Birds of a Feather
by Sleeper 3173
Summary: Something happens during Harry's final summer at the Dursleys that forces him and Hedwig to flee before anyone expected them to. On the run, Harry comes to terms with his destiny and embraces something worth fighting for as the world plunges into war.
1. Chapter 1

Birds of a Feather

A Harry Potter Fanfic Story Idea By:

Sleeper3173

Inspiration for the idea: GoblinQueeen's Harry Potter Fan art "Hedwig: Humanity's Light"

Basic Story Premise: Something happens during Harry's final summer at the Dursleys that forces him and Hedwig to flee before anyone expected them to. What results alters the destiny of many.

Harry sighed staring up at the ceiling of his room, listening to the raised voice of his Uncle Vernon arguing with the two strange men that had invited themselves into his house. Even though he hadn't sneaked down to see who it was, there was no mistaking the growling voice of Mad-Eye Moody and the deep voice of Kingsley Shacklebot. At first he was worried they might have been disguised Death Eaters, but he relaxed when he remembered that if they were indeed Death Eaters, Uncle Vernon wouldn't still be alive. So, he took a page out of Fred and George's book and used an Extendable Ear to listen in.

Vernon Dursley was beyond mad. He was furious. For the past 15 years he has spent almost every single day regretting the fact that he had let Petunia talk him into taking in the son of her dead freak of a sister. It seemed to him that as every year passed since Potter had joined that world of his, things had been getting worse and worse for him and his family. The final straw had been when those things had attacked his son, but once again Petunia had talked him into not chucking the boy out. He had hoped that when the boy was collected so soon after arriving last year that he wouldn't see him again, but like all the years previous, he was contacted to let him know when his nephew would be at the Train station and that it was strongly encouraged that he pick him up if he didn't want any trouble. Now, barely a week later, he was disturbed from his morning paper by a rather loud knock on the door.

When he had opened, he knew immediately something was wrong. The first clue was the tall black man standing in front of him dressed like he came straight out of Africa. This set warning bells off in Vernon's head, who had a very defined idea of what a properly dressed man should be. When the black man shifted and he saw the man with the freak eye who talked to him last year standing there, Vernon tried to slam the door shut but the scarred man shoved his walking stick in the way.

"Not today Dursley." The man growled. "We need to talk and won't take no for an answer."

Knowing what they could do, Vernon just scowled and let them into the living room, trying to decide how best to handle the situation. Luckily, the man with the eye, Maddie or Moby, or some freakish name like that seemed to think that a direct approach was best.

"First of all," he growled. "If you hoping we are here to get Potter out of your hair you are very much mistaken. He is staying here till his birthday just like it was planned before."

Vernon's face purpled with rage. "The why the bloody hell are you darkening my house?" he almost yelled. "It's bad enough that I have to put up with _him_, why should I have to put up with constant visits from more of your kind."

"Because there is something very important you need to know." The black man said in a calming deep voice. "Once Harry leaves here for the final time, the protection that the blood magic that his mother gave him will be gone, which means your home, and family, will be open to attack because you are Harry's family. We have come to the conclusion that it would be best if you and your family go into hiding for the duration of the war. Of course once it is over, we will bring you back and repair any damage that might have happened while you were gone."

Vernon exploded.

"YOU WANT US TO DO WHAT?" he screamed, spit flying from his mouth. "YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO COME INTO MY HOME AND TELL ME THAT I NEED TO LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND BECAUSE SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL THAT FREAK OF A BOY? I WONT HAVE IT! YOU TAKE HIM AND GET HIM OUT NOW! I WONT HAVE HIM ENDANGERING MY FAMILY A MOMENT LONGER!"

Upstairs, Harry was still listening, alternating between cringing and holding back from laughing. It had taken Kingsley 5 minutes to calm down Uncle Vernon, and he had a funny feeling that Moody had probably done something that prevented Uncle Vernon from doing something very rash. Once the conversation was turned to where the Dursleys might go, Harry pulled the end of the Extendable Ear out of his ear and sighed.

He looked around the room, the reality that this would be his final summer here setting in. To be honest, he was glad. He had never been happy here, and was more then happy to walk away from the abuse that had dominated his life. His eyes settled on Hedwig, who was glaring at floor with a look of disgust that only she could pull off.

"Sorry about this girl." He told her softly. "We are just here till my birthday then we are free from them for good."

Hedwig looked at him and barked softly. Harry smiled and got out of his bed and walked over to her to stroke her chest feathers.

"We've been through a lot together here haven't we girl?" he spoke to her softly. "I think the worse time was the second summer when they locked you in the cage… I felt horrible about that."

Hedwig barked softly again and nipped his nose gently and he smiled at her. Walking back to his bed, he put the end of the Extendable Ear into his to find out where the conversation was. He did so just in time to hear Moody and Kingsley walk out of the front door which was quickly slammed shut. Sighing, he pulled the Extendable Ear back to him and closed his eyes.

Uncle Vernon's hand was shaking slightly as he poured himself a triple serving of whiskey. It wasn't due to fear or nervousness from the conversation he had just had. No… It was from pure rage. How _dare_ they presume to tell him what he had to do because of the actions of his good for nothing nephew. He ignored Petunia when she called out to him as he slowly climbed the stairs, thinking that he had best lay down to calm himself down.

Getting to his room, he took a long drink from his glass and laid down, his heart still beating furiously in his chest from his pent up anger. He had just closed his eyes when he heard the loud barking of that boy's blasted bird. Gritting his teeth, he downed the rest of his drink in one go, and closed his eyes again, hoping that sleep would quickly claim him and he could dream about a Potterless world.

It was not to be. No sooner had he closed his eyes when he heard the bird barking again, and he cringed, his eyes squeezing even tighter together. His concentration broken, he heard a new noise that he hadn't noticed before coming from his nephew's room. He heard the sound of laughter and Harry speaking to someone. While he could stand Harry talking to himself, lord knows he wouldn't be surprised if he was mentally unstable… but laughing? After what he had done to his family? Vernon snapped.

With a bellowing roar of rage, he flung his whiskey glass at the wall where it shattered. Tearing open his door, he charged towards the freaks room, determined to teach him a lesson that he would never forget.

As was the norm for his summer months since he started at Hogwarts, he spent most of his time talking to Hedwig. As she was his only constant companion over the years, she had evolved from loyal pet to trusted confident. While she couldn't speak, Harry had learned to read her body language and various barks so that he could hold a semblance of a conversation with her. It was mainly thanks to her that he had gotten over the deaths of Sirius and Professor Dumbledore, as she had been a caring creature to talk to. Right now he was telling her one of his funnier stories involving the Headmaster, and Hedwig was laughing in her own unique way. He was about to wrap it up when he heard the roar of rage coming from his Aunt and Uncle's room and he paled when he realized just how much noise they had been making. Add in what had happened earlier, and he knew this was going to be a bad one. He hesitated a second on trying to decide if he should barricade the door or make a grab for his wand. That second was too long. With a crash that literally tore the door off its hinges, Uncle Vernon burst into the room, his face a dark purple and every vein in his face visible from rage.

"ENOUGH!" he bellowed, spit flying from his mouth.

Before Harry could even move, Vernon's fist was a blur as it swung through the air before it smacked into the side of Harry's head with a sickening thud. The force of the hit was strong enough that it literally lifted him up and he flew across the room where he slammed into the wall next to the closet. Instantly he felt his ribs explode into pain, and he started wishing he would pass out soon. First it helped with the pain, plus his uncle had a tendency to stop once his prey was no longer awake to feel what he was doing to him.

Hedwig, however, had other plans. With a squawk of outrage, she flew at Vernon and her sharp talons tore his cheeks open, filling his mouth with blood. Instead of scarring him off, it only made Vernon even more furious… as well as gave him a new target for his rage.

Snatching hold of the lamp on Harry's bed side table and singing it like a baseball bat, struck Hedwig just as she was swooping in to attack him again. She didn't even let out a noise as she too flew through the air to smack into a wall. She passed so close to Harry who was struggling to his feet, he actually felt a light breeze from her passing. His heart froze when he didn't see her move.

"Hedwig!" he yelled out in fear, his own injuries forgotten, even as blood started running down his face from his scalp. His heart beating wildly, he lunged at his uncle, his magic and adrenaline combining to give him almost superhuman strength. He reached Vernon just as he was lifting his foot to bring it down in Hedwig's helpless body and swung the strongest right hook he could muster. With a yell of pain, Vernon desperately clutched his jaw that was hanging loosely from his head. Harry glanced at Hedwig and rage filled him and before he knew it he was delivering a rapid set of punches to Vernon's head, each one accompanied by a spray of blood.

Vernon was swaying hard when Harry grabbed hold of his shirt and drew his fist back. He looked right into Vernon's eyes and he could see the faint spark that Vernon knew what was coming. Harry's fist swung forward at a speed he didn't think possible and it sank into his Uncle's face, shattering cartilage and bone… as well as Harry's hand. It didn't matter. He went sailing backwards out of the door of Harry's room and slammed head first into the hall wall where he slid slowly to the ground.

Harry stood there panting, one eye blind due to the blood running into it, and his ribs on fire. He glanced down at his right hand and grimaced when he saw bones jutting out from the skin. Between his uncle and his own rage, he was seriously injured. But none of that mattered. Grabbing the door with his left hand, he lifted it back into place awkwardly, and then dragged his night stand in front of it. Deep down he knew his uncle would probably never get up again, but then again, he wasn't going to take any chances.

Once done, he staggered over to where Hedwig lay, and feel to his knees and carefully picked her up. Even though Hagrid had never covered Owl care in his class, even Harry knew that she was critically injured, maybe even fatally. Then again, maybe he was too. He was certainly in enough pain.

He held her close, not even aware when the tears had started trickling down his face.

"No Hedwig…" he said softly, his blood mixed tears dripping onto her feathers. "I can't lose you too…"

As he held her, his mind was working in overdrive. It was critical that he and Hedwig get medical help as soon as possible. The problem was that he had just seriously injured his uncle, maybe even killed him. Even though it was in self defense, he didn't doubt for a second that the Ministry would use this as a means to get control over his life. And that was just the magical world.

Just as sure as he knew what the Ministry of Magic would do, he also knew what the muggles would do. His Aunt Petunia would surely tell the police investigating that he was the one who attacked Uncle Vernon, who bravely defended himself from their mentally unstable nephew. Thanks to the lies they had been spreading for years, no one would believe his side of the family and he would be lucky to see the outside of a mental prison hospital ever again. He had no choice. He had to run. But no matter what, he had to help Hedwig.

Only having minutes, he quickly placed Hedwig down in his bed after smoothing her breast feather. Kicking open his trunk, he started hurling his stuff in there before he stopped and slapped his forehead. He was already going on the run. It no longer mattered if he used magic or not. Grabbing his wand, he waved his wand around his room like he had seen Tonks do it and concentrating on just his magical items, he smiled as they flew through the air and landed neatly in the trunk.

"I am so gonna have to talk to Tonks about this…" he said softly as he closed and locked the trunk before shrinking it enough that he could put it in his old backpack. He was about to leave when he realized that dressed in his wizarding clothes wouldn't exactly blend him in and he started yanking clothes out of his closet, trying to ignore his blood that was dripping on the floor or the pain in his side.

Distracted, he didn't notice when a soft light started to come from the corner of his room where his bed was until it got bright enough that it started to fill up the room. Whirling around, his mouth fell open when he saw that a light was surrounding Hedwig and was getting brighter with every passing second. Eventually he had to look away as the light intensified enough to rival that of the sun. He could only imagine what people looking at the house from the outside must be thinking.

Then, just as suddenly, the light vanished and Harry blinked his eyes rapidly as they struggled to see after being exposed to such bright light. His vision was just starting to return when he heard a soft groan of pain. Looking back at the bed, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Instead of Hedwig, there was now a beautiful young woman in her place. Even though she was completely nude, he couldn't take his gaze away from her eyes which were framed by pure white hair. Her eyes were exactly the same as Hedwig's, even though they were clearly betraying how much in pain she was in. Any doubt what had happened went away as soon as she spoke as he pain filled eyes locked onto his.

"Please Master Harry…" she spoke in a soft melodious voice. Harry didn't know why, but deep down he got the feeling that she had been speaking to him the entire time he had known her. Why hadn't he understood her better when she was an owl?

"Please…" she said softly again. "Just leave me and go… your more important…"

Harry paled and took a step towards her before realizing that she was completely naked. Blushing, he quickly dug through his clothes till he found a long jacket and awkwardly helped her into it, even though she hissed with pain with every movement.

"Master Harry." Hedwig protested weakly. "You don't have time for this… you must flee…"

"No Hedwig…" he said softly as he looked into her incredible golden eyes. "There is no way at all that I am leaving you behind. We go together or we don't go at all."

"Fine." Hedwig said with a painful sigh. "Then please just hurry. I'm sure we don't have much time left."

Harry nodded and after a few minutes thinking dragged his shrunk trunk back out of the bag and after a few quick spells, had the bulging re shrunk trunk back in the bag. Thank god he had learned the feather light charm…

"Hedwig." He said as he put on his jacket and shrugged on the backpack. "Do you have any idea where we can get medical help and a place to hide?"

Hedwig tried to sit up but let out a cry of pain and fell back again with a loud whimper. Panting, she closed her eyes and appeared to be thinking hard, going through the places she went to as an owl and the people she had met.

"Remus Lupin can help us." She said finally, her voice very soft. "And Padfoot's place is still safe."

"But Dumbledore said…" he started to say but an exasperated sigh stopped him.

"Master Harry." Hedwig said, her voice slightly louder with her frustration. "Just trust me on this."

Harry opened his mouth to argue then closed it and merely nodded. Taking a quick glance around the room to make sure nothing was missed, he picked up a new sound in the distance that he hadn't heard before.

Sirens.

Lots of them.

And getting closer with every passing second.

He hurried over to Hedwig and muttered a quick apology as he scooped her up into his arms, wincing at her cries of pain and the muted crunch of broken bones grinding together. He still hadn't even wiped the blood out of his eyes.

"I'm sorry Hedwig." He said softly. "I know I don't have a license, but I need to apparate us if we want to get away. I just know that this is going to hurt us both…. A lot…"

Hedwig clung tighter to him.

"It's ok Master Harry." She said softly, her close contact sending electric shocks through his body. "I trust you completely."

As she spoke softly, her head lifted up and locked her golden eyes onto Harry's green eyes. Something happened then, something that Harry for the rest of his life couldn't explain no matter how hard he tried. As they were gazing into each other's eyes, their faces grew closer and closer together till finally their lips connect. Their eyes slowly closed as the kiss deepened slightly, so they both missed the brief flare of light that enveloped both of their bodies and filled the room before fading. That light would alter the destinies of dozens of people, and the two who caused it never even knew.

With the sirens coming to a stop right outside of the house, and with their lips still connected, Harry turned on the spot and vanished with an explosive crack that shattered the wards surrounding the house and blew out every window in a block radius.

They were free.


	2. Chapter 2

Birds of a Feather

By: Sleeper3173

Chapter Two

A/N: There was such a massive positive response to this story that I am bowing to the masses and turning this from a one shot that was supposed to make you imagine what happens next, to a full length fan fic. I hope you enjoy!

They were finally free of the Dursleys.

But they weren't free of the pain.

Harry had long assumed that the sensation of being squeezed through a tube while apparating was just that: a sensation.

It wasn't.

While it was impossible to know what Hedwig was feeling, his own pain had to be close to hers. His ribs, which if they weren't broken before, were certainly broken now. His skull felt like someone had dropped a 50 pound anvil on it. If he had been able to, he would have been screaming himself hoarse. It took every shred of his well to keep his mind focused on their destination.

With the eternity that always seems to pass when one is under extreme pain, Harry and Hedwig finally appeared outside Grimmauld Place with a crack loud enough to set off every car alarm on the block, and the magical shockwave stripped several nearby trees of their leaves. Luckily, no muggles were outside in the street to see their violent arrival.

Harry looked up at the front door of the building with some relief before he took and unsteady step forward, both his and Hedwig's faces coated with blood and tears of pain. That one step was all he took before he dimly realized two things. The first was that the effort to take that single step was to painful and his body went limp, and it was only another measure of extreme mental will so that he merely sank to his knees.

It was here that the second thing that became alarmingly apparent. There was already a massive amount of blood on the pavement, and it was slowly expanding. Panicking, he quickly checked Hedwig for a more serious injury that he had missed earlier then stopped dead. His face took on a blank look as he stared at the bleeding stump that was all that was that remained of his left hand. He had splinched himself, badly. His mind vaguely went back to his apparition lessons, and the instructor telling him that few splinches involve blood loss, but those that did had to be corrected immediately or the permanent loss of the affected limb was guaranteed. He had no doubt at all his hand was now lost… and that was the best case scenario.

"Hedwig…" he said with a small whimper. "We are in a lot of trouble… I don't think we are going to make it."

Hedwig lifted her head to look at him.

"No Master Harry!" she exclaimed, her sudden fear giving her strength. "We are going to make it. We just have to get inside and contact Lupin."

Harry looked at her for a few seconds before nodding and using his wand to cast a tight binding spell above the stump of his hand to stop the blood loss. He tried not to look at the bone that was visible. Using each other for support, they managed to struggle back to their feet, and staggered drunkenly up the steps to the front door, a trail of blood left behind them on the street. It took him two tries to open the front door with his blood soaked left hand before managing to get them inside.

"Master Harry." Hedwig gasped with pain. "I remember hearing Sirius telling Lupin that he had connected his house to the floo network for emergencies. You need to…"

"I know." Harry gasped out, already steering them to the main fireplace. They passed the portrait of Mrs. Black, who didn't scream at them for a change, just looked at them with a strange expression on her face before walking out of her portrait. This struck Harry as unusual, but he quickly dismissed it as an irrelevant thought in the face of the current crisis.

Finally reaching the large fireplace, which in the past has been used to cook potions, the two of them sank to the floor in front of it. Panting with pain, Harry summoned the flowerpot to him, then cast an incendio at the remains of the wood in the fireplace, and soon as the flames settled down, then tossed almost the entire pot into the flames. Not even waiting for the flames to settle down again, he pushed his head into the flames and called out Lupin's name.

Once his head stopped spinning, the first thing he noticed was how sparse Lupin's apartment was. More importantly, he didn't see Lupin anywhere in his range of sight.

"Lupin?" he called out hesitantly. When there was no answer, he tried to still the fear in his heart that Lupin was out.

"Remus Lupin!" he yelled out as loud as his painful ribs would let him. To his surprise, he heard a squeal of surprise and the sudden sound of items falling.

Suddenly, a door that Harry hadn't seen during his very brief initial glance around the room was wrenched open, and the sight that greeted his eyes would have left a healthier Harry Potter a blushing blabbering idiot.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" screamed a very nude, very sweaty, and a very very pissed Nymphadora Tonks, her hair a flaming red that would have put the Weasley's to shame.

"You're supposed to… be... at… oh my god Harry!" Even from across the room, and through the flickering green flames, Tonks could see the large amount of blood coating the side of Harry's head.

Lupin, alerted by the sudden panic in Tonks' voice, barreled out of the other room pulling on a bathrobe. Harry just smiled, the pain in his head and the loss of blood starting to pull the veil of darkness over his eyes.

"Moony…" he said weakly. "Tonks... help us… Padfoot's place… please…"

The last of his strength utterly spent, his eyes closed and his head started to fade from the fireplace.

"Harry!" screamed Tonks, and leapt over the couch in front of the fireplace and latched onto Harry's ears, getting pulled through the floo and out of the fireplace of Grimmauld Place. Lupin stood there in shock for a few seconds before hurrying to grab his medical kit and appareted away.

Tonks meanwhile, was shocked by the scene that greeted her after tumbling out of the fireplace. Blood coated the ground, turning her skin red when her knees slipped and she landed face first in it. When she got to her knees again, she saw a stunningly beautiful girl Harry's age with snow white hair pulling his head into her lap while repeatedly murmuring "Master Harry" softly. She went for her wand, then blushed slightly when she realized that not only was she still naked, but she hadn't even grabbed her wand before foolishly leaping for Harry's head.

"Who are you?" she asked the girl, who looked at her with tears coursing down her face.

"I know you won't believe me right now," she said softly, clearly in a lot of pain. "But I am Hedwig, Harry's owl." She grabbed Harry's wand and weakly handed it to Tonks. "Please… save him…"

Tonks's mouth dropped open.

"Hedwig?" she gasped, the multiple shocks in such a short amount of time almost overwhelming her.

"I can't… possibly… explain… what has happened…" Hedwig gasped out. "But please… just…save him…"

"What happened?" Tonks asked, using Harry's wand to run a medical diagnostic spell on first Harry, then on Hedwig.

"His uncle… attacked us…" Hedwig answered, almost on the verge of passing out. "He hurt us pretty bad… don't worry about me… save… Master… Harry…"

At this point Lupin burst into the room, already very pale from the sight of so much blood on the street outside of the house, and paled even more when he saw the bloody mess that greeted his eyes now.

"Nonsense." Tonks said with false cheerfulness. "We are going to save you both. Lupin is an expert at patching people up. Just relax ok?"

Hedwig nodded once, then lost her fight to stay conscious and passed out. Lupin and Tonks stared at each other for a few seconds before nodding and went to work.

It was the ticking of a clock that was the first sound that made Harry realize that he was indeed alive and waking up. It took him a few tries, but he finally succeeded in opening his eyes slightly before immediately letting them shut again. The sunlight streaming into the room was too much for him to handle immediately.

He cracked his eyes open again and painfully waited for them to adjust to the light. When he was able to, he opened them fully, and then discovered that he wasn't wearing his glasses, and the room was barely more than a blur. Regardless, he looked around the room anyways, trying to see where he was. To his relief, even with the blurry vision, there was no disguising the silvery white hair that belonged to Hedwig, and the blurry rise and fall of her chest signified that she too was alive… as well as the fact that she was still in her human form.

After watching her for a few more minutes, he let his eyes to continue their sweep of the room they were in. Even though he couldn't make out details, he quickly realized that they were in the make shift infirmary the Order of the Phoenix has set up at Grimmauld Place. He heaved a small sigh, noticing that his ribs no longer hurt. Hedwig had been right; Lupin had been able to save them.

The soft sound of a throat clearing to his right attracted his attention, and he looked over to see his glasses floating in the air inches from his face. He gratefully grabbed them and slipped them on. As the world came into focus, he suddenly paled. Sitting in the chair next to bed was a flame haired, very pissed looking Tonks, who got up onto his bed and straddled his waist so that she could get her face right down to his.

"Harry Potter." She growled out. "If you should ever floo call like that again and catch me naked… so help me god…"

She trailed off and Harry gulped and felt his forehead burst out in a nervous sweat. Suddenly, Tonks laughed as her face split into a wide smile and her hair shifted to its usual spiky bubblegum pink.

"You had best be able and ready to do something more than just look." She finished with a soft purr before grinding herself on him and giving him a wink and light kiss before getting off and sitting back down. Harry blushed so hard and so fast that he felt light headed.

"Don't joke around like that Tonks." He finally managed to croak out.

"Who said I was joking?" Tonks replied with a smirk. "My fool of a mother named me Nymphadora for a reason. Now don't go anywhere while I go get Remus. He'll be very happy to hear that you're awake."

Harry was left pondering what Tonks had meant as the metamorph walked out of the room. Finally deciding that he would just ask her later, he turned his attention back to Hedwig. He still couldn't believe all that had happened to them, and more specifically, her. He hoped that Lupin would be able to tell why she had changed.

Before he could wonder any longer on what had happened, he heard the sound of someone running through the hallway outside and the door burst open, revealing a panting Remus Lupin with a smile wider than any Harry had ever seen on him.

"Harry!" he exclaimed as Harry sat up slowly in bed. "We thought you would never wake up!"

"How long have we been out?" Harry asked, already dreading the answer.

"Two weeks." Remus answered, his smile fading from his face. "It had only been the last couple of days that we were certain the two of you weren't going to die on us."

"How bad was it?" Harry asked, now suddenly scared to look under the covers where his left arm was. That feeling only got worse when Lupin looked away. "Tell me Remus."

"Look under the sheet Harry…" Lupin said softly.

Gritting his teeth, he gripped the sheets with his right hand, and then slowly drew out his left. He hissed in his breath when he saw not a stump, but a hand made of gold. It looked exactly like the one that Voldemort had given Wormtail after he had completed the resurrection ritual. He flexed it, and was amazed that he couldn't tell a single difference between this fake hand and his own.

"I'm sorry Harry." Tonks said softly from the doorway. "We went to your home as soon as you were stabilized, but the Dursleys had already carried it outside and all that was left was some charred bone. You may or may not be pleased to know that your uncle survived without lasting harm."

"I thought these hands were made of silver." Harry said softly, still flexing his hand.

"You can actually make them from anything you want them to." Remus said. "It's just that silver looks better because it can fit in with most situations better. However, I know what you would think every time you saw the silver hand so I chose to go with gold. I think it fits your personality better anyways."

Harry nodded and examined his new hand closely, particularly the coat of arms on the back of the hand, and the intricate patterns covering the rest of it.

"Who did it?" he asked curiously.

"Remus provided the power, I provided the design." Tonks said with a slight worry to her tone. "I thought that since no matter what you do its going to stick out, you might as well not make it plan. I looked up the Potter family crest and used it as the central design, then just let the rest flow onto it as it formed. Umm… do you like it?"

Harry looked at his hand for a few more seconds before smiling widely.

"I love it." He said, much to Tonks's relief. "How does it work?"

"Well…" Remus said slowly. "So as to not make it to confusing for you, it acts like the muscles are still connected to a real hand, so there is no hesitation in it doing what you want it to do. It's powered by your magic, but it takes no more energy then it took to keep your old hand alive. Don't worry; it won't fall off for any random reason."

Harry nodded, still staring at his hand.

"What else about us was injured?" he asked, still wanting to know the extent of Vernon's rage.

"Your skull was broken in the back and on the top." Remus answered with a sigh. "A piece of it broke the skin, which is why there was so much blood there. Frankly, we were both shocked that you were able to as well as you did for as long as you did. The right side of your rib cage was completely shattered, shredding a lot of internal organs. Any longer and you would have died."

"What about Hedwig?" Harry asked, his mind whirling around everything he had just heard.

"She had her left arm…err…wing…arm… completely shattered, as well as hair line cracks or breaks in most of her other bones. We feared that her skull might have been crushed, but all she had was a severe concussion. Don't worry. She'll be fine."

Harry fell back into the bed, feeling tension leave his body. They had both made it.

A sudden thought crossed his mind and he slowly worked himself back upright to look Lupin in the eyes.

"How long did you say I was out again?" he asked slowly, not believing what he had thought he had heard before. Remus fidgeted.

"Two weeks" he finally answered. Harry groaned and buried his pale face in his hands. Merlin knew what had been going on since that night.

"I'm sorry Harry." Tonks said, sitting on down on his bed. "You two were just so badly injured that we kept you asleep rather than have you wake up and feel the pain we had to put you through in order to save you."

"After that." Remus continued. "We felt it was just a good idea for you two to wake up on your own rather than to force the issue, and let your bodies fully heal. We knew both of you would wake up today, just not sure when."

"We would have brought you to St. Mungo's," Tonks said. "But we know You-Know-Who has spies there to keep track of those who have been wounded in the battles against his forces. You wouldn't have stood a chance there."

Harry was about to make a comment about that, but movement in Hedwig's bed attracted his attention. To his joy, he saw Hedwig stir, then open her eyes. Like him, she quickly clenched her eyes till they got use to the bright light, but before long; they opened and soon latched onto his.

"Master Harry?" she said softly, almost uncertain that she was really believing what she was seeing. Harry swallowed hard.

"I'm right here Hedwig." He said softly. "We made it. We're alive."

To everyone's shock, Hedwig bolted out of the bed and flung herself at Harry and started kissing him rapidly between small shouts of "Master Harry!"

Tonks giggled, clearly wanting to watch what developed, but Lupin had other plans. With a slight blush on his face, he gently tapped Hedwig on the shoulder and she jumped in surprise.

"Umm…" she said, her face a delicate pink. "Sorry… I… umm…"

"It's ok Hedwig." Tonks said with a laugh. "We…" Lupin interrupted her with a small cough. "Alright, I, understand that reaction perfectly."

"However," Lupin said. "I think that it is important you two get down to the kitchen and start getting some real food into you. Then… we have a lot to talk about."

(A/N): Happy Fourth of July! Keep it safe and sane! As always, leave a review, and feel free to vote on the poll in my profile!


	3. Chapter 3

Birds of a Feather

By Sleeper 3173

Chapter Three

A/N: I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good.

Even though the pair were stronger then what Lupin and Tonks had expected, they still insisted on helping Harry and Hedwig down the stairs, despite their loud protests of course. They only let them go once they had eased into the chairs surrounding the kitchen table.

"Thanks Moony." Harry said. "But I think for future reference you're supposed to let the patient rest more before you decide to try and move them." He paused and chuckled. "I guess all those times in the hospital wing at Hogwarts finally rubbed off on me. I'm just glad enough that I feel well enough to move at all."

"I'm glad you feel that way." Lupin said. "Because we really don't have the luxury of time for you to be laid up that long." He stopped when a loud crash signaled that Tonks had started to cook breakfast by dropping the entire pot rack to the floor.

"Just how bad is it?" Harry asked, looking out of the corner of his eye at Hedwig, who was watching Tonks starting to fry bacon with interest. "You said that there are a lot of casualties."

"But thankfully only a few deaths." Tonks said as she dropped an egg to the ground while trying to scramble some eggs and flip the bacon at the same time.

"We would have been in real bad shape if Fawkes hadn't convinced another phoenix to come and help us care for the wounded." Lupin said. "Dozens of people owe their lives to phoenix tears right now."

"So Fawkes is still around?" asked Harry while Hedwig shifted anxiously waiting for the bacon to be served. "I thought when their masters died, phoenixes left to look for a new one?"

"They do Harry." Lupin replied. "Phoenixes are completely creatures of the light. He and Dumbledore where bonded, but there is so much darkness in England right now, I am shocked he didn't leave as soon as Dumbledore died, never mind bring another phoenix to help us. We think we know why he stayed, but that is for later."

Lupin stopped talking when Tonks, her shirt covered with splattered eggs and grease, carefully levitated four plates of food to the table. The seriousness of the situation was broken up by the need for Harry and Tonks to teach Hedwig how to use utensils after she tried to eat using her hands. It was becoming very clear that she still had the mind set of an owl when it came to many normal human actions.

Once the majority of the food had been eaten, and enjoyed watching Tonks get soaked from head to foot while trying to wash the pans (Harry looked away with a red face when her shirt got wet.) It was even more fun watching her trying to put the pans away on a pot rack that was still on the floor. Wearing a cheeky smile, she sat back down at the table still dripping wet and munched on one of the left over pieces of bacon.

"Alright," Harry said. "Spill. What has been going on out there?"

"Well…" Lupin said slowly. "I am sorry to say that You-Know-Who has launched his offensive against Magical Britain at last."

Harry frowned.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "What do you call what he was doing before?"

"That was more like covert ops, guerrilla warfare if you will." Tonks answered. "They wanted to build back up their forces and regain old allies. They also wanted the time to buy off or silently kill those who might lead a resistance against him, either in battle or in politics. Amelia Bones for example, could do both, so You-Know-Who killed her personally. "

"And with Dumbledore's death," Lupin continued "You were his last big obstacle. When you vanished and left a hand behind in a large pool of blood, it was widely reported that your uncle had injured you enough that when you tried to apparate away, you died. It wouldn't be the first time someone had died in that manner. It wasn't long after that that You-Know-Who went back to the Ministry at the head of his army and seized control of it."

"He tried to seize the Royal Family as well." Tonks said, her hair shifting to a fiery red to reflect her anger at this act.

"What?!" Harry yelped. "Why would he try and do that?"

"Simple." Tonks replied. "The British magical world is controlled by the Ministry of Magic, which is in turn controlled by the Minister of Magic. However, the Minister is just that, a minister. He or she still has to answer to someone… hence why You-Know-Who wanted the Royal Family. They are the real power in Magical Britain."

Harry was silent for a few seconds, his mouth open and closing a few times as he tried to wrap around this stunning new revelation of a world he was still learning about.

"What happened?" He asked. "You said tried, not that they succeeded."

Lupin and Tonks smiled brightly.

"In today's world, we thought that the Royal Family had no secrets left. Turns out they had a big one." Lupin said.

"Like what?" asked Hedwig. Even she knew who the Royal Family was.

"Princess Diana is a Witch." Tonks said. "Of course now that we know that we can suddenly understand the problems she has had with Prince Charles. She probably didn't tell him that before they got married."

"What?!" Harry and Hedwig exclaimed. "How could something like that have stayed a secret? Wouldn't she have had to go to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Not really." Lupin replied. "There are more schools in England then just Hogwarts, and there is also the homeschooling option. We think that is the route her family took."

"So get on with it already!" Harry exclaimed. "What happened?"

"When the Death Eaters showed up, they tripped the wards protecting the palace, and she was able to get the drop on them. Before they knew what had hit them, she had dropped three of them with _Bombardas _to the chest." Tonks said with an oddly prideful tone. "The noise of the explosions brought the Royal Guards who held off the rest of them till we could get there and evacuate the Royal Family."

"Bloody hell…" Harry muttered as he sat back trying to comprehend this new mental image of the Princess. "Was anyone injured in all of that? Where are they staying?"

"Prince Phillip lost his right eye." Lupin replied with a soft chuckle. "But all he has been saying is that the eye patch makes him look more dashing and refuses to let us fix it. And we will talk about where they are staying later."

Harry merely nodded, his mind still distracted. The room lapsed into silence for a few minutes till finally Harry shook his head with a sigh.

"So what else?" He asked. "Who is in charge of the Order? What else has Volde-MMPH!"

Before Harry could finish saying the name, Tonks had thrown herself across the table and slapped her hand over Harry's mouth and Lupin's wand was tickling Harry's right eye.

"If you ever say that name again." Lupin growled into Harry's scared face while Hedwig looked like she wanted to claw Lupin's eyes out. "I swear to Merlin I will kill you myself."

Harry managed to nod his head and the two settled back on their side of the table, though Hedwig was still glaring at Lupin, though then again, so was Tonks.

"Sorry about that Harry." She said giving Lupin a death glare. "You-Know-Who went and put a taboo curse on his own name. If anyone says it, the location at which where they are loses all magical protection, and Death Eaters instantly know where they are. Quite a few people have been captured or killed that way, and we've lost more then a few safe houses."

Harry paled at the thought of what had almost happened, while Lupin started to look like he was feeling bad for the way he had reacted.

"Don't worry." Harry said. "It won't happen again."

Silence once more fell upon the room while the people calmed down.

"So…" Harry said slowly. "Can my questions be answered?"

Lupin hesitated.

"Actually your questions go hand in hand…" he said slowly. "But I need your oath not to get overly upset when I answer it. You may not like what you hear."

Harry's eye narrowed, disturbed by what Lupin said before nodding, his thirst for knowledge overcoming all else.

"Alright. I promise." He said.

"No Harry…" Lupin said. "Your magical oath."

Harry sighed as he pulled out his wand and held it up. "I swear on my magic that I will not react violently to anything that Lupin has to say for the rest of the day, so mote it be." There was a flash and Lupin nodded in satisfaction before he leaned back in his chair.

"I guess the best way is just come right out and tell you." Lupin said. "I never agreed with Dumbledore's policy of weaving a long story before you getting to the point. Harry, right now its Snape who is leading the fight against You-Know-Who"

Lupin was instantly grateful that he had made Harry take that oath, judging from the way Harry was swelling from anger. He briefly wondered how much was from actual anger and what was magically induced. It was several minutes before Harry's magical oath allowed him to speak normally.

"You do remember that he killed Dumbledore right?" he asked in a barely controlled voice. "That all that is going on is his fault?"

Lupin hesitated and nodded.

"Yes, we remember." He said. "Nor has he denied it. However, he had Dumbledore's trust, and has told us things that have earned our reluctant trust. Also, certain events have transpired that have compelled him to leave You-Know-Who's service for good. But in the end, he had Dumbledore's trust, so with all that we know now; it's good enough for us."

Once again, Harry's oath prevented him from speaking for several minutes, and the others sat in uncomfortable silence.

"I want to know the details…" he started to say in a strained voice before Lupin interrupted him.

"Harry, I don't think that that is such a good idea." He said gently.

"Moony." Harry said sharply. "Either tell me or I swear the next time I see him I WILL kill him. Your choice."

Lupin and Tonks looked at each other, while Hedwig tried to comfort Harry by rubbing her head on his shoulder, forgetting that she was a human now. At least Tonks got a chuckle out of it.

"Alright Harry." Lupin said at last. "We'll tell you some of it, but only because your still under the oath, and because we really don't have a lot of time. In due time we will tell you everything. I'm not like Dumbledore. Ok?"

Harry nodded, though his muscles were still clenched.

"Snape's story begins and ends with your mother Harry." Lupin began, holding up his hand to stop him from saying anything. "They were childhood friends, and it was Snape who revealed to Lily that she was a witch. Sadly it was also due to this that your aunt Petunia became jealous of her sister, who had someone else to be with that understood her powers. I think even back then, they should have seen that fate was out to get them, for when they got to Hogwarts, Snape was sorted into Slytherin while Lily was sorted in Gryffindor. Despite that, they managed to maintain a friendship until their fifth year, the results of which you know very well."

Harry nodded, flashing back to his trip into the pensive with Snape's memories in it.

"However," Lupin continued. "By the time that happened, Snape had fallen in love with Lily, so the end of their friendship affected him badly. Without her light side influence, he sank completely into his studies, which even at that point was heavy in the Dark Arts. It was only a matter of time till he joined up with the Knights of Walpurgis, which eventually evolved into what we now know as the Death Eaters.

"Time passed, and Lily got married to James, and Snape became the man you know today. However, though the world was plunged into darkness, his love for Lily never died. When he learned You-Know-Who was wiping out the Potters, he went to Dumbledore and begged him to help keep her safe."

"But he was the one to tell Vol…er… You-Know-Who the prophecy!" Harry protested.

"Yes he was." Lupin said. "But you forget that when the prophecy was made, it could have applied to anyone, because, let's face it, You-Know-Who was targeting a lot of people. It wasn't till after he had reported what he had heard to You-Know-Who that it was figured out that it could be talking about either you or Neville. Dumbledore was looking to get a spy inside You-Know-Who's ranks, agreed to help protect them. He talked them into moving into a small cottage your parents had bought in Gordic's Hollow, which was then protected by the Fidelius Charm. Sadly, we all know how that ended."

Harry frowned as several forgotten nuggets of wisdom clicked into place.

"He did the actual charm work himself?" he asked slowly.

"Yes." Said Lupin bitterly. "And I already know what you're going with this. Yes, that means that he knew that Peter was the secret keeper and that Sirius was innocent all along. None of us would even think that Dumbledore would lie, so between him and what the evidence pointed to, we all believed that Sirius was guilty. There is of course the possibility that he obliviated himself of the knowledge but…"

"But Dumbledore values memories too much to do that." Harry finished grimly, staring at his new gold hand, realizing that his entire life had been decided for him without anyone having a single clue.

"So what else did the old man keep from me about my own life?" Harry asked dejectedly.

"The only other thing that I found out is that the Potter main vault still exists and that he had Gringotts stop sending you the monthly account notices."

"Main vault?" Harry asked confusedly. "What do I have now? And why would he stop the notices?"

"That's just your trust vault, something to get you through your years at Hogwarts. Normally you would have to wait till you come of age, but since you have no more guardians either alive or… fit… to care for you…. You can access it now. I am sure once we leave here you will get an owl telling you that you have been emancipated. As for why he stopped the notices? That was just Dumbledore being Dumbledore. He never believed that the young should have access to large amounts of money, fearing that they were too immature to be trusted to not spend it on frivolous things. You're not the only one who he has done this to, so don't feel too bad."

Harry nodded, but even this news of Dumbledore's further betrayal couldn't shake him from his original line of questioning.

"What did You-Know-Who do that made Snape leave his services?" he asked.

Lupin started fidgeting until Tonks put her hand on his arm.

"Later Harry." She said softly. "I promise I will tell you myself, but there are lots of other things we need to talk about first."

Harry scowled angrily, but nodded anyways.

"Alright Tonks." He said stiffly. "I'll be holding you to that promise."

Lupin visibly relaxed, and Harry was instantly reminded of Sirius. During the summer before the start of his fifth year, he had sat down with Harry to give him "The Talk." Harry doubted he would ever see another man relax as much as Sirius did when Harry told him that he already knew the subject matter.

"Ok." He said. "So what is so important that is this time critical?"

"Well," Lupin said. "To answer that question means we get to answer your earlier question about where the Royal Family is staying."

"Gee." Harry said sarcastically. "And here I thought you would wait till later to tell me that."

"Nonsense." Tonks said with a soft laugh. "We just didn't want to answer then because it didn't relate to what we wanted to talk about yet… then again we didn't want to talk You-Know-Who yet either… but you kind of forced the issue." Lupin just rolled his eyes.

"When our safe houses started to be discovered and destroyed, we quickly came to the conclusion that stealth was no longer an option. In fact, this is the only location that still remains hidden from You-Know-Who. Regardless, we needed a place that had strong defensive wards, and only a few places like that exist that could withstand a large attack. Gringotts, the Burrow, Longbottom Manor, and…" Lupin looked at Harry expectantly.

Harry's eyes widened.

"Hogwarts!" He exclaimed. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that before?"

Tonks laughed.

"We forgive you for your moment of forgetfulness." She teased him. Harry in turn very maturely stuck his tongue out at her while Hedwig laughed.

"So what does all this have to do with me?" Harry asked, still not sure what Lupin and Tonks was getting at.

"Harry, as it stands now, Hogwarts' wards are already very formidable." Lupin said. "However, from what we have discovered through research in previous headmaster and headmistress's notes, they are just the basic set of wards that are currently activated. Some we could activate on our own, but some of the most powerful ones need to be turned on still." Harry gestured for him to go on, and Lupin faltered until Tonks took over with a huff.

"I think you need a brief history of Hogwarts castle." She said. "Hogwarts wasn't built as soon as the four founders decided to start teaching. It wasn't until the muggles started going after us magicals did they even think about building a castle. By that time, the four had married each other: Gordic and Helga, Salazar and Rowena. Courage and Loyalty. Cunning and Knowledge. Each the perfect match for the other.

"Salazar built the foundation of Hogwarts, but we think that was just so he could build his hidden chamber without fear of being discovered. Rowena designed and built the Library and all the classrooms. Helga (here the former Hufflepuff smiled widely) designed the 4 house dorms, as well as the general layout of the castle."

"What did Gordic do?" Harry asked, having learned more magical history in the past couple of minutes then in six years of Professor Binn's classes.

"Gordic, with the help of Rowena, designed Hogwarts' extensive wards." Lupin answered. It dawned on Harry that Lupin looked exhausted and he wondered if there had been a recent full moon. "However, in notes that Dumbledore left behind, we discovered that Gordic did more than that. He ALSO had a project he kept secret from the others. In addition to the additional wards then what he told them about, he also put together a more physical set of defenses, among which is an extensive subterranean wall system, which, when activated, rises out of the ground to completely surround the castle. We need those defenses because we know it is just a matter of time till You-Know-Who comes knocking at Hogwarts' gates at the head of his entire Death Eater army.

Harry sighed, getting frustrated.

"You still haven't said what this has to do with me."

Tonks chuckled, nudging Lupin in the ribs.

"You need to forgive him." She said. "He has a lot on his mind." Lupin blushed lightly but managed to give a weak smile.

"Right." He said. "Sorry. Gordic put two fail safes into his ward system. Well, three, but the first one only worked for as long as he was alive. He designed it so that to activate the full set of wards, you needed a key, and the key is his sword. I am sure you can already see why the first fail safe no longer works."

"Yeah." Harry said. "As long as he was alive, he would naturally have his sword with him, so why should he worry about someone else using it?"

"Exactly. Knowing that he wouldn't live forever, he put in the other two fail safes. The first was that only a Gryffindor could even touch his sword without suffering extreme pain. You don't even want to know what would happen if you tried to use it anyways. The third is the one that has gotten us hung up. Any Gryffindor can pick up his sword and use it as a sword. However, if you want to use it as the key, the sword needs to have PICKED you."

"Picked you?" Harry asked. "What do you… wait…. Oh bugger…" he trailed off, his mind flashing to the Chamber of Secrets when the sword came to "a true Gryffindor." Tonks shook her head.

"No buggering Harry if what Miss Angelina Johnson says is true." She said with a wink.

While a furiously blushing Harry choked and spluttered, Tonks took an equally as red Hedwig to the loo to teach her about human bodily functions. Lupin just sat there with a wistful smile on his face.

"What are you smiling at?" Harry finally managed to choke out, still bright red.

"Oh nothing." Lupin replied. "It's just that James reacted the same way when Lily told him near the end of seventh year that she knew about his large… er… collection of Playwizard magazines."

"Thanks Moony." Harry said with a groan. "I really could have gone without that bit of knowledge." Lupin laughed.

"Sirius would come back from the grave to kill me if I didn't say 'I aim to please' right now." Harry just groaned again and nodded his head.

"So…" he said, the blush slowly starting to fade. "Let's sum this all up. My uncle tried to kill me, failed, and I am guessing is dead in return."

"We don't know." Lupin said. "We are still trying to find out." Harry merely shrugged.

"My owl then turns into a human during all this, and we fled to here, Black Manor. During the process of fleeing, I lost my left hand, which you and Tonks replaced with a solid gold one." As he spoke, his gold hand flexed a few times, as if to tell him it was all true.

"While me and human Hedwig were asleep healing, You-Know-Who started to openly attack Britain, during which the Princess of Wales revealed herself to be a witch after Death Eaters tried to kidnap the Royal Family and she killed three of them. Hogwarts has been turned into a place of refuge. You need my help to use Gordic Gryffindor's sword to activate super strong ancient wards that the founder himself installed to make sure that You-Know-Who can't attack the castle."

"Don't forget that Snape is the leader of the resistance." Tonks chimed in as she and Hedwig came back to the table.

"Or that You-Know-Who put a curse on his own name." Lupin added.

"Or that we have to go back to the Dursleys and then go to Gringotts to look at your Family Vault." Hedwig answered.

"No." Harry said right away. "I am never going back to that place for as long as I live."

"But you left a lot of your stuff behind Master." Hedwig protested.

"I don't care Hedwig." Harry said, his eyes taking on an angry glint. "It can rot there for all I care. It was all clothing that used to be Dudley's that never fit me anyways. I would rather die then go back there, and there is nothing any of you can say that will change my mind."

"Relax Harry." Said Lupin. "You're not going back. But Hedwig is right. You do need to go to your Family Vault. Once we get to Hogwarts, we may not get another chance to go for awhile. There may be stuff in there we could use in the fight against You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters." Harry nodded then a dark look came over his face.

"Don't think I've forgotten about Snape." He said angrily. "If I don't know the full story before I see him again, you had best prepare yourself for a leadership role Moony. When do we leave?" Tonks just smiled, undisturbed by Harry's threat.

"As soon as you two get dressed properly and get an energy potion into you." She said happily.

"Potion first I think." Lupin said, and with that, breakfast, and Harry's quick catch up on recent events, was over.

~Birds of a Feather~

In Little Whinging, a faint reddish dome was starting to show around the Dursleys' house. Unnoticeable by muggles, the hidden Death Eater who was assigned to watching the house saw it immediately. After Harry had shattered the wards, the Death Eaters had tried to attack, but to their disgust, discovered that the house was still protected by the blood ward that prevented them from entering the house with the intent to harm the occupants.

Now the ward was failing, and failing quickly.

The Death Eater immediately summoned for more help, and a few minutes later, twenty Death Eaters surrounded the Dursley house waiting for the moment they could attack.

Inside, Petunia Dursley was sorting through the growing pile of bills with frustration. It had been years since she herself had done the bills, and right now she was feeling overwhelmed. She reached for her teacup to take another sip of whiskey fortified tea when she paused, staring at it.

The tea cup was rattling in its saucer and it was getting worse with each passing second. In fact, the whole table, no, the whole room was shaking. She paled, somehow immediately knowing that it was somehow related to her nephew's freakishness.

Outside, the dome was becoming more and more distinct, and the Death Eaters creeped closer. Suddenly the red dome flickered a few times before a loud crack echoed through the area and the dome shattered like glass, falling to the ground with a tinkle.

With a loud cry, the Death Eaters rushed forward, eager to seize the house. Before they could travel half way across the yard though, there was the sound of objects breaking inside the house, before every window exploded in a hailstorm of glass that blinded a few Death Eaters. Seconds later, every single piece of furniture inside the house shot out through the windows and started pelted them; breaking limbs and driving them back.

One Death Eater struggled through the furniture storm to make it to the front door, but then paused when he heard a loud crashing noise. He didn't have long to wonder what the noise was, as half his head was suddenly taken off by the kitchen sink that smashed through the front door.

A loud series of cracks later, and silence once more fell on Privet Drive. To the curious people peering out from their windows, it looked like the Dursleys had been the victim of an unusual prank. That is till one sharp eyes neighbor spotted the corpse on the Dursleys' front step. The Police were quickly summoned.

With the wail of sirens in the distance, and the growing attention on the body, it's forgivable that no one saw the red "glass" slowly start to move. It could even be forgiven for not noticing that it gathered together in one spot. But only muggle stupidity could explain why no one noticed the flash of red light that enveloped the red lump, which quickly condensed into a red ball the size of a baseball and glowed brightly.

Lifting off the ground and floating five feet above it, it pulsed a few times slowly before twirling around rapidly. It drifted around the yard a few seconds, looking over the growing crowd and the general mayhem that had attracted them, before darting inside the house.

It paused outside the open door to the cupboard under the stairs, before rocketing up the stairs. It drifted unto Harry's room and scrutinized the dried blood on the walls and floor. It seemed to pulse with anger a few times before rocketing down to the first floor, passing through the wood effortlessly.

Drifting into the kitchen, it stopped in front of Petunia who was cowering in the corner. When she noticed the glowing red orb in front of her, she shrank back in horror.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed at it. The orb pulsed a few times before a very feminine voice came from it.

"That's the last time I help you." The voice said. "Next time the Death Eaters come, you're on your own. I suggest that you and your family leave at once."

With that final warning, the orb shot off towards the north, leaving behind a stunned Petunia who looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"Impossible…" was all that she was able to keep saying.

When the police arrived a few minutes later, Petunia was nowhere to be found. In fact, none of the Dursleys could be found. All that was left for them was the knowledge that there was a family missing, as well as the very puzzling mystery as to how a kitchen sink was used to kill a very weirdly dressed man.

A/N: I am so sorry for the enormous delay in getting this chapter out folks. I actually had the handwritten copy of this chapter done two weeks ago, but events in real life prevented me from dedicating any serious time to actually typing it up. Add in the three plot bunnies that popped into my mind while writing this and had to be dealt with…. Well… you get the picture.

Anyways, did I give you enough surprises? I told you that the fate of many would be changed. To my British readers, if making Princess Diana offended you for some reason, I am sorry, it was not my intention. It was my plan from day one to write it that she did NOT die in the car crash, and her being a witch kinda flowed onto the paper. I was originally going to make the Queen a witch, seeing as how a great many fanfics make her the leader of both muggle and magical governments, but as an American, I didn't feel I was up to the challenge of creating a personality for such a wonderful and well respected woman without doing her full justice.

So, to my British readers! I hope in the coming chapters you will help me create a believable magical Princess Diana, because after all, this story is for you, the readers. See you next time!

Sleeper 3173

P.S. How many of you can correctly guess what the orb really is? And even more so, what I plan to do with it? Look forward to hearing your answers! Also, your afraid about this being a Harry/Tonks/Lupin three some, don't worry about it. It's not going to happen.

Mischief Managed!


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

After and Lupin and Tonks forced a pepper-up potion down their throats, the pair went upstairs to dress. Harry went to his room to pick through what clothes he had left to put together an outfit. Hedwig, who had no clothes, went with Tonks into her room to get some clothes that fit her.

Naturally, he was done long before they were, and he went downstairs to wait with Lupin. The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Harry turned to Lupin with a grin.

"So…" he said slowly. "You and Tonks eh?" Lupin chuckled.

"I tried to talk her out of it, so she resorted to a very serious threat."

"What was that?" he asked with a frown. He hadn't thought of Tonks resorting to threats for anything.

"She said either I go out with her, or she would start pursuing you instead. Couldn't let that happen now could I?"

While Harry blushed and spluttered for a second time that day, Lupin's face took on a thoughtful look.

"Then again…" he said slowly. "I'm not sure she won't anyways."

A loud thud told Lupin that Harry had fainted, and he stood over him, scratching his head.

"I could have sworn that Sirius said that we didn't have to worry about a response like this…"

Half an hour later, a recovered Harry and an impatient Lupin were finally rewarded with the sounds of Tonks and Hedwig walking down the stairs. The second Hedwig came into view; Harry knew that it was a bad idea letting Tonks help her dress.

The first thing that came into view was the knee length leather boots that Hedwig was wearing, followed by a healthy length of thigh that disappeared under a short skirt. A toned stomach was revealed in the gap between the top of the skirt and the bottom of a very tight t shirt. .

"Umm… Tonks?" Harry asked staring at Hedwig. "Aren't we supposed to be staying hidden somewhat?"

Tonks huffed and her hair turned a brighter shade of pink.

"It's all I have that fits her!" she protested. "It's not my fault that she is the same size as the form I take to go clubbing in! When we go to Gringotts, we also need to stop and buy the two of you new clothes."

"Besides Master," said Hedwig giving a little twirl. "I kind of like it, and it looks like you like it too."

Harry blushed and fidgeted before Lupin slapped him in the back.

"Don't worry about it. Sirius would be proud of you." He said with a mischievous grin on his face. "Just sixteen and you already have a girl calling you master."

"Moony!" Harry exclaimed, flushing a brighter red. "Will you shut up?!" Lupin and Tonks laughed while Hedwig just looked confused.

"Come on." Tonks said. "We can tease each other more at Hogwarts. It's time we get going."

Aiming her wand at the fireplace, she light it with a flick.

"Are you sure that Hedwig can use the floo?" Harry asked,

"Yeah." Answered Tonks with a cheery smile. "Anyone can use it, even muggles, if you know how and have floo powder."

Hedwig looked at the floo powder pot with disdain.

"Can't we just fly there somehow?" she asked with a nervous quiver in her voice.

"Sorry Hedwig." Lupin said kindly. "I know that you're still geared for life in the air, but until we know more about why you have changed… Harry is right. We need to try and keep a low profile. Landing in the middle of Diagon Alley on broomsticks will attract a little too much attention. Hmm…. Now that I think about it…"

He walked around Harry slowly, muttering under his breath.

"You need to be disguised a little Harry." He said slowly. "Tonks, think you could do something about that?"

Tonks smiled widely and whipped out her wand again.

"I thought you would never ask Moony." She said happily. "Now hold still Harry…. Let's see what we can do about you…"

Two minutes later, Harry had white hair to match Hedwig's, and was just long enough to cover his scar. His glasses had a powerful disillusion charm placed on them, and only someone looking carefully could see the hazy outline on his face. Looking into a mirror that Tonks conjured, Harry was surprised that with just those two changes, he could barely recognize himself.

"I think you have a calling in life Tonks." He said impressed by her work.

"Well, when you make a new face every day," she replied twirling her wand between her fingers. "You get to be skilled at fixing up other people's faces."

Suddenly Tonks' height shifted to match Harry's, while her hair grew longer and turned the same shade of white as Hedwig's.

"There!" she said happily. "Now the three of us are siblings from France being escorted around Diagon Alley by our loving Uncle Remus Lupin for a shopping trip."

Hedwig grinned widely and rubbed her head on her "Uncle's" arm. Lupin decided that someone really needed to sit down and teach her about how to show human emotions once they got to Hogwarts. Except kissing. She seemed to have that one down.

"Great!" Harry said looking at the three of them in the mirror before it vanished. "So with that taken care of, I guess we can get going now?"

Lupin nodded, but Hedwig still looked nervous.

"Ummm…" Hedwig said slowly. "Maybe one of you should go before me…"

"I'll do it!" Tonks called out, grabbing a pinch of floo powder and tossed it into the fire, which roared green. "Just do everything that I do." She told Hedwig.

"Ok."

Tonks stepped into the fire calling out "Diagon Alley!", tripped, and vanished into the roar of flames face first. Lupin winced.

"Ooo…" he said with a chuckle. "That's going to hurt… OK, Hedwig, how about you do everything she did except the tripping part."

Hedwig nodded her head nervously, and tossed in a pinch like Tonks had and stepped in.

"Di-Di-Diagon Al-Alley!" she managed to cough out and vanished in the roar of green flames. Harry groaned and face palmed.

"What's wrong?" asked Lupin.

"It's just that the first time I used the floo, I coughed out the name too, and I ended up in Knockturn Alley."

Lupin paled.

"I think we need to get over there right away." Harry merely nodded.

~Birds of a Feather~

It took Harry, Lupin, and Tonks twenty minutes to track down Hedwig, though in the end it turned out they worried for nothing. She had only come out of a fireplace a further down Diagon Alley, and had wandered around till she had found the Owl Emporium. That's where Harry found her having what looked like a one sided conversation with a Tiger Owl. He sat there watching her for a few minutes, trying to decide if people were looking at her more for what she was wearing or her conversation with the owl, before speaking up.

"Can you really understand what its saying?" he asked, getting a bunch of dirty looks from the other males who had gathered.

Hedwig turned her head to look at him and smiles happily.

"Of course I do Master." She said. "His master is the shop owner. We used to talk all the time while I was here before I was bought and given to you Master."

"Er…" Harry said slowly, ignoring the muttering of the other guys as they walked away slowly after hearing her call him master. "What is he saying? And I do wish you would stop calling me master."

Hedwig gasped, and her hands shot to her mouth while the Tiger Owl hooted angrily at him.

"What?" asked a flabbergasted Harry. Hedwig glared at him in only the way she could while the Tiger Owl continued to hoot angrily.

"He says how dare you ask me to stop calling you master." She said angrily. She moved up and stood right in front of him. Harry had no doubt that if she was still an owl she would be nipping his ears and beating him with her wings. "That is like telling Hermione Granger to stop being a bookworm. To Tell Ronald Weasley to stop being a quidditch obsessed walking stomach. To tell Draco Malfoy to be nice to a half-blood Gryffindor. Not only do you just not do it, but it also can't be done. You are my owner, my master, and nothing in the Great Skies is going to change that!"

Harry, thoroughly ashamed of what he has said, nodded sheepishly.

"I'm sorry Hedwig." He said softly, still under the angry gaze of the Tiger Owl. "I guess I've let Hermione's rants about SPEW rub off on me. You're right, you are my…er… owl, and I very glad of that and wouldn't change that fact."

Hedwig smiled, and stretched up slightly to kiss his cheek softly.

"Don't forget it again Master." She said just as softly as her kiss.

"Come on." Harry said taking her hand. "Moony and Tonks are no doubt still looking for you." Hedwig blushed.

"I've never gotten lost before Master." She admitted.

Harry chuckles as Hedwig said goodbye to her friend then lead her out into Diagon Alley, where they were quickly spotted by a worried Lupin and Tonks. It took them longer to explain where Hedwig had ended up, and to explain where Harry had found her. Lupin was intrigued to learn that Hedwig could still talk to other owls, and made a mental note to pay Hogwarts' library an extended visit.

"Come on." He told the others. "We don't want to be out in the open too long, disguised or not. The quicker we get to Gringotts the better."

As they walked down Diagon Alley, the three white haired "siblings" attracted their fair share of attention, Hedwig and Tonks being the main reason. Meanwhile Hedwig stared at everything that was around her with the same fascination that Harry had had when he was first there. Then again, when they got to Gringotts, they all stopped and stared.

In front of the white marble steps leading up to the bank were four squads of heavily armed goblins. Backing up each of these was a fully armored troll, its armor glinting brightly in the sunlight.

"I don't believe it." Breathed Lupin. "They actually did it."

"Did what?" asked Harry, staring at the trolls. Unlike the one he had faced in his first year, there was no denying that these trolls were highly intelligent.

"They had threatened to close off Gringotts to either side of the war." Lupin answered still staring. "Only people who had legitimate business with the bank would be allowed to enter. Anyone else such as…well…. known Death Eaters"

"Or a known Order of the Phoenix Member." Tonks said softly.

"Or people with no reason to be at the bank will be allowed to enter." Lupin continued. "And any attempt to try and get in anyways will be dealt with… harshly."

As he spoke, one of the trolls shifted, revealing a line of pikes that had somehow been embedded into the marble. On the tip of each pike was an impaled head. Harry winced.

"I can see what you mean." Harry said. "So how do we get in?"

"You and Tonks will be fine because you have vaults." Lupin said. "And you can get Hedwig in by saying you wish to open a vault for her. It's the outer checkpoint you need to worry about. I am sure they won't turn away customers once you're inside. However, I can't go in. Not only am I well known member of the Order, I don't even have a vault, and they know damn well I am too poor to afford to open one. I'll have to wait out here in the shadows."

"You sure?" Harry asked. "We don't have to do this now. We can come back and do it after the war is over."

"No Harry." Lupin said firmly. "It needs to be done. We are not just here to visit, but to empty most if not all of it."

"Empty it?!" Harry exclaimed, attracting a few curious glances. "Why?"

"Two reasons." Tonks answered. "One, if You-Know-Who makes a move on the Goblin Nation, Gringotts can't withstand a dedicated attack from his entire army. Two, technically You-Know-Who is in control of the Ministry of Magic, even though he has one of his Death Eaters in as a puppet Minister. Once he finds out your still alive, he can order a freeze on all accounts. We have no guarantee that your accounts will be restored once the war is over."

"Why wouldn't they do that?" asked a confused Harry.

"That's not for me to explain." Lupin said calmly. "You'll need to talk to Dumbledore's painting for that."

Harry scowled but nodded his head.

"I wanted to talk to that things anyways about Sirius." He said grimly.

"Go on now." Lupin said. "We don't have all day. Keep him safe Tonks."

Harry looked away while Tonks gave Lupin and very passionate kiss.

"Ok, wish us luck." He said once they were ready.

"No need Harry." Lupin said with a chuckle. "You're a Potter. You make your own luck."

"I hear you Moony." Harry said with a chuckle. "Be careful yourself."

Taking Hedwig's hand on one hand and Tonks' hand in the other, Harry walked up the steps past the goblin guards, who stared at them nastily as they passed. Nearing the line of severed heads, Harry slowed and stared at two of them that were in front of the others. One had long blond hair, while the other had long unkempt black hair.

Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange.

It was Tonks nudging him in the back that kept Harry walking past the heads.

"How and when did that happen?" he hissed at Tonks.

"The goblins must have gotten Malfoy." She whispered back. "Bellatrix is the result of Snape's wand work."

"What?!" Harry said in shock, causing one of the trolls to look at them suspiciously. "How? When?"

"Later Harry." Tonks said softly. Harry nodded with a scowl and the trio walked up to the only goblin in front of the doors in a three piece suit.

"What is your business with Gringotts bank?" he asked the three of them sharply. Harry doubted that nothing would make the goblin happier than if they said 'nothing.'

"I am here to access my vault and to open a vault for my sister here." Harry said gesturing to Hedwig, who was being closely scrutinized by the goblin.

"Keys?" the goblin asked sharply, his tone indicating that they had best have them if they didn't want their heads on a pike. They quickly held up their keys, and the goblin examined them closely, and Harry was amused to see the goblin unable to hide his disappointed look when he told them everything looked to be in order.

"Very well." he said at last. "Go inside and speak to the Head Teller. He will help you further."

"Thank you." Harry said and waited for the doors to swing open, very much aware that they were still be scrutinized by the bank guards.

Once inside the bank, Harry was instantly struck by how much different the atmosphere was compared to the last time he was there. Gone was the small crowd of people usually waiting for an available teller. The tellers were still counting their money, but on most of them the jeweled hilt of a dagger or sword peeked out from under their suits. The few customers that were in the lobby looked extremely nervous.

"Come on." Tonks whispered, nudging Harry in the back. "We don't want to hesitate to long in here. It would look suspicious."

Harry reluctantly walked up to the Head Teller, his mind briefly going back to the first visit to Gringotts, and a similar walk to the Head Teller. They stood in front of his desk for a few minutes while they waited for the goblin to finish writing in a massive ledger.

"Yes?" the Head Teller asked at last, setting down his quill and looking up at them.

"We are here to access the Potter Family Vault as well as my own." Tonks answered him quickly.

"Keys." The goblin said simply, and the two of them placed their keys on the desk in front of him. After examining them, the goblin's eyes darted to Harry and gestured for him to come closer. When Harry did, the Head Teller reached out with a long finger and poked Harry in the forehead. He yelped when he felt all the charms hiding his identity fade away.

"There will be no concealing your identity here Mr. Potter." He said sternly. "It will not be tolerated. We also must ask you to assume your true form Miss Tonks. Be warned that we will know if you haven't."

Tonks paled and fidgeted badly before nodding, muttering under her breath.

Taking a step back, she closed her eyes and her shape started to change. The first thing that changed was her hair that turned midnight black, and grew to just over the top of her breasts. They too changed, growing just enough that her shirt strained itself noticeably. Her body lengthened, adding to her height till she was about an inch taller than him, though he knew that would change in a year or so. The heart-shaped face stayed the same, though her nose shifted slightly to resemble Sirius's. When she opened her eyes, they were the same grey that all Black's seemed to have. All in all, Harry thought she looked great.

"Damn Tonks." He said appreciatively. "Moony is a lucky guy."

"Shut it Potter." She growled out. "The only three people to see this form till now were my parents and Madam Pomfrey. Moony wasn't going to see this till our wedding night!"

"I promise not to tell." Harry said quickly.

"You better not." She told him before addressing the Head Teller. "Happy?"

"Almost." He replied. "Who… or what, is your white haired friend here for?"

"Er…" Harry said slowly. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well she clearly isn't fully human." The Head Teller said in a tone that suggested he thought Harry was crazy. "A transfigured animal perhaps?"

"Hey!" Hedwig protested. "I am NOT transfigured!"

"She… er… is my owl." Harry explained with a red face and much shifting of his feet. "She turned into a human for some reason and hasn't changed back."

"Ah." The Head Teller said simply. He pulled out a sheet of parchment and a red quill that Harry instantly recognized as a blood quill.

"I will need you to sign your full name on this parchment." He told Harry, who nodded and quickly did it to get the expected accompanying pain over with.

_Harry James Potter_

The blood shined on the page for a few seconds before it started spreading across the surface in a language that Harry didn't recognize. He briefly wondered where all the extra blood came from.

"Most interesting…" muttered the head Teller as he read the parchment. "Ah… that will make the future interesting indeed…."

"Sir?" asked Harry. The last time someone had spoken like that he had found out her had Voldemort's wand brother. The goblin just chuckled.

"This is just a record of your holdings. I must admit that you have far more then what I had heard about. I do believe you will have a good time exploring your Family Vault. Has anyone informed you that Lord Sirius Black left you everything?"

"Yes." Harry replied, his heart feeling heavy suddenly. "Professor Albus Dumbledore did."

"Including the title of Lord Black?" Harry stared at the goblin, who was doing his best impersonation of someone who was talking to a five year old.

"He what?" Harry asked, not helping the Head Teller's current impression of him.

"You are the new Lord Black." The goblin said simply.

"Bloody hell…" Tonks said staring at Harry with a strange look in her eyes.

The Head Teller was yelling to another goblin in gobbledygook, who said something quickly in return and rushed off behind a pair of goblin sized marble doors.

"If you would wait a few seconds," the Head Teller told them. "We will sort all of this out."

A minute later, a goblin came over with two small boxes.

"Excellent." The Head teller said, clapping his hands together twice. Quite a few goblins stopped their work to turn around and watch them.

"These are the Head of House rings for House Potter and House Black. One you put them on, the family magic will recognize you as the House Lord."

"That's all I need to do?" Harry asked, eyeing the two boxes.

"Your Ministry would normally insist upon a formal event, along with meaningless oaths to family and whatnot. The family magic already ensures family loyalty, so we can easily forgo that useless drabble."

Harry nodded and opened up the first box. Inside was the Potter Family ring. He wasn't surprised at all to see that the stone was Gryffindor red. The crest was a phoenix with it fiery wings outstretched over a blue and yellow cheveron kite shield. He eased it out of the box, noting the weight of the heavy gold ring. Sliding it on, he was dismayed at how loose it was.

"Umm… it doesn't fit…" he started to say before the ring flashed brightly and he felt it shrink to fit his finger.

"You were saying Lord Potter?" the Head Teller said with a toothy grin.

"Nothing." Said a slightly red faced Harry.

He picked up the other ring box and flipped open the lip to reveal the Black Family ring. While the Potter Family ring was made of gold, the Black Family ring was constructed from pure silver. The stone was a bright emerald, while the crest featured a grim holding a small scroll with the family motto on it.

'I'm going to have to change the meaning of that.' Harry thought as he lifted the ring out of box and slipped it onto the middle finger of his right hand. A flash of light and the resized itself to fit.

"Very good Lord Potter-Black." The Head Teller said in an almost cheerful voice. "I should inform you that when the late Lord Sirius Black named you his heir, the contents of the Black Family vault were added to the Potter vault. Is that acceptable?"

"Umm…" Harry stammered, his mind one again struggling to keep up with the rapid changes of events in the past (for him) 48 hours. "Yes. I guess so." He said at last.

"Very well." the Head Teller said. "I normally would have assigned Griphook to be your guide again, but I am sorry to say he has gone missing. A Senior Cart Driver will have to do I'm afraid. He will meet you by the entrance to the tunnels. Have a prosperous day."

Harry nodded numbly and started walking towards the marble doors in the back, it wasn't long however till he realized that Tonks wasn't following him but was still standing at the Head Teller's desk looking at him strangely.

"What's wrong Tonks?" he asked. Tonks's lip quivered a few times before she suddenly flung herself on her hands and knees at a very shocked Harry's feet.

"Lord Potter-Black." She said softly with a waver in her voice. "On behalf of my mother, Andromeda, and myself, respectfully beg you to bring us back into the Black family!"

Harry froze, remembering the time Sirius showed him the Black Family Tree… and the burned off names on it. He may not know much in the magical world, but even he knew what Tonks was asking for, and what it meant.

"You were completely disowned?" he asked in a whisper of disbelief. In the magical world, being removed from your family's tree was bad enough. But to be completely disowned… not only did the disowned lose the family name, they also lost access to any money they might have associated with said family. If the family was old enough to have developed it, they also lost their ability to connect to the family magic. To the eyes of magical Britain, Andromeda had no name and no rights. Tonks was nothing more than a bastard. How she had gotten as far as she had in magical Britain's ultra conservative society was a mystery to Harry.

"yes." She said softly, tears dripping onto the white floor of the bank.

"Why in Merlin's name didn't Sirius let you back in?" Harry asked.

"Because Lord Potter-Black." Said an ancient looking goblin who had been standing by the doors. "Lord Sirius Black never had the chance to come down and claim the Head of House ring. He may have been the head of the Black family, but his actual control was limited without the ring."

To Harry, the answer was simple.

"What do I need to say?" he asked in a tone that made Tonks look up hopefully. She watched as his back straitened and his shoulders squared, right before her eyes he transformed into a Lord of an ancient and noble house. The old goblin gestured for Harry to bend down and whispered into his ear. Harry nodded and stood back up.

"I, Harry James Potter-Black, head of the Black Family, hereby right a grave wrong, and bring back into the fold Andromeda Tonks nee Black and her offspring Nymphadora Tonks (Tonks winced at this part), restoring their name, magic, and honor, so mote it be."

As he finished speaking, his ring flashed brightly, and from Tonks's right hand there was another flash, and smaller, more feminine version of the ring appeared. Harry knew somehow that a similar ring had appeared on Andromeda's hand.

"Thank you my lord!" Tonks squealed with delight after pouncing him, making Harry cringe.

"I really hope that you won't be calling me lord for the rest of my life." Tonks blushed and quickly let Harry go, nodding her head.

"Well if that is all," the old goblin said "I am supposed to take you down to the Potter Family Vault and Miss Tonks's Vault."

"Thank you." Harry said with a smile on his face. "I believe we are ready to go now."

"Excellent. If you and your party would follow me?"

Taking Hedwig's hand into his own, Harry followed the old goblin to the doors down to the tunnels, a widely grinning Tonks brining up the rear.

Birds of a Feather

The red orb, having left Surry far behind, continued its journey north following the slight tug it felt. For a brief while it had felt a faint secondary tug in London's general direction, but it soon faded into and annoying itch that was insignificant to the pull coming from the north. So it continued, trusting its instincts. After all, they hadn't been wrong yet.

A/N: Well, another chapter done. And this one was out much quicker than the last one. I am also pleased to say I am well into writing chapter 5. It should be out just after the first of the year.

As a side note, have any of you figured out how some of the ships will start to form? Yes… I said ships. That's kinda how the story is flowing from my fountain pen, so I just go along with it.

See you next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

When the old goblin lead them to where the carts were, Harry and the two girls automatically went to the first available cart in the line. A chuckle made Harry look back.

"No Lord Potter-Black" the old goblin said, the smile on his face revealing the sharpest set of goblin teeth Harry had ever seen. "These carts do not take us to where we need to go. There is only one that goes where we need to go, and it is over here."

With looks of confusion on their faces, they followed the old goblin past the carts and down a dust filled corridor. Judging from the dust that rose into the air with each footstep, it had been years since anyone had used this part of Gringotts. They finally stopped next to an ancient looking cart perched on it rails over what seemed to be a mine shaft.

"Is that thing safe?" they all said at one, staring at it.

"Of course it is." The old goblin said with another toothy grin. "It wouldn't do for any of our customers to die in here. The lost galleons and the paperwork involved are a real hassle."

The trio stared at him for a few seconds before nervously getting into the cart. Harry and Hedwig sat together, while Tonks sat in the middle of the seat behind them. The old goblin climbed into the driver's seat and looked back at them.

"I recommend you hang on tight. This goes much faster then the other carts."

Harry and Hedwig were suddenly squeezed together as Tonks wrapped her arms around them.

"Ok." She said cheekily. "All ready to go."

The old goblin grinned evilly and released the brake. With a screech of metal, the cart dropped straight down.

And fell.

And fell.

And for a change of pace, fell some more.

Just when Harry though that they were going to be falling for all eternity, the cart came to a sudden halt, then shot forward like a bullet on rails that Harry couldn't see. Tonks' grip on Harry and Hedwig tightened as she struggled to stay close to them against the g forces that were slowly pulling their faces into an unwanted smile.

Just as suddenly as before, the cart halted it forward momentum, crushing Tonks into their backs. She started to hiss in pain when the cart dropped again.

"Did you guys design this thing to scare people?!" Harry bellowed at the old goblin.

"No!" the old goblin yelled back. "It's one of the best ways to protect the vaults! The only way you can get to them is with this cart, and only a select few goblins can drive it! If you were forcing to take you to the vaults against my will, the sudden changes would make it impossible to keep your weapon on me or keep me under a spell!"

As he finished speaking, the cart stopped its fall then shot off at an alarming speed again… sideways.

"I can see what you mean!" Harry yelled.

After three more minutes of sudden movements, the cart ride blessedly smoothed out. Tonks's whole body was green, including her hair, while Harry was looking winded. Hedwig however, had a face splitting grin and voiced the opinion that the goblins should have made it longer.

Now that the ride had smoothed out, Harry was finally able to look around in the dim light of the caves. The old goblin didn't even need to tell them that this section hadn't been used for a long time. The lanterns were dim with age and dust. Their faint light reflected off the fading crests of families that Harry remembered reading about in History of Magic that existed long ago in England, Ireland, and Scotland… and died out long ago. He was even sure that at one point that passed the bones of a dragon.

"Harry…" Tonks said slowly. "Look."

Harry blinked a few times and looked ahead. Coming closer was a single lantern that still burned brightly. His suspicion on what it was was confirmed when the cart slowed to a stop outside a vault door bearing the Potter Crest. His right hand tightened when he saw it, the lantern light glinting off the Potter signet.

"The last active vault in this part of the bank." The old goblin told them. "The Black vault used to be down here as well, but once Lord Black died, we followed his wishes and moved the contents of the Black Vault to the Potter Vault. It will be a shame to not enjoy the cart ride down here ever again."

Harry glared at the goblin who had an oddly wishful look on his face before noticing the three sets of eyes staring at him. "What? You don't think I know you are going to empty the vault? You would be a fool if you don't. I hope you brought enough trunks." Tonks merely snickered.

"Place your Head of House ring on the indentation in the door and then step back." The old goblin instructed him.

Harry nodded and did as he was instructed. At first, nothing happened, and then a low rumble echoed out from the door. Years of dust blew out as seam formed in the middle of the Potter seal that gradually grew wider. The screech of tired gears inside the doors echoed throughout the cave, hurting their ears, though the goblin looked like it was the most beautiful sounds in the world.

"Take all the time you need." The old goblin said once the doors were fully open. Harry, Hedwig, and Tonks slowly entered the vault and gasped as one.

The vault was massive, easily bigger then the Dursley's entire house, with a good chunk of the neighbor's houses thrown in to. A good third of it was devoted to a mammoth pile of gold Galleons, silver Sickles, and bronze Knuts. Quickly doing the math, Harry estimated that he could live to the age of 500, and barely have put a dent in it.

"So…" he said slowly in a sarcastic tone. "We are going to empty it?"

"Yep." Tonks said seriously. She pulled a messenger bag out from under her robes and starts shaking out its contents onto the floor. Dozens of matchbox sized trunks tumbled out, and Harry arched an eyebrow at her.

"We thought ahead and made sure that we would be able to take all if not most of what was in here, though I suggest when we get back to Hogwarts you get some help sorting through it all." Tonks explained as she started expanding the boxes into large trunks. "Maybe store the lot of it in that chamber of yours." She looked up at the skeptical look on Harry's face. "They have expansion charms in them Harry. They hold more then they look. How about you go check out the rest of the vault while I deal with the money?"

Harry nodded, and together with Hedwig, ventured deeper into the vault. Behind the, the clinking of coins filled the air as Tonks started directing the massive pile into several trunks, the coins sorting themselves into Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. She smiles happily, having spent days making sure she could do this charm correctly.

Now that they were past the coins, Harry saw that the remaining space in the vault was separated into two separate halves. The treasures closest to him were no doubt from the Potters, while the back was separated by a massive tapestry bearing the Black family crest. He had a feeling he wouldn't enjoy going through that side of the vault.

Looking around, his attention was attracted by another large pile, this one made up of books. Harry chuckled, having no doubt that Hermione would be suffering from a full fledged orgasm if she was here. He poked through the pile for a couple of minutes, noting that many of the books were very rare, and wondered where they had come from.

The next thing that caught his eye was a large selection of Potters through the ages, though he was disappointed to discover not only wasn't there a portrait of his parents, but none of them were animated. He wondered if the magic that sustained them had faded, and made a mental note to ask Professor Flitwick about it.

"Master?" Hedwig called out. "Come look at this."

Turning away from the portraits, Harry followed the sound of her voice to several mannequins that were garbed in what could only be wizarding armor. What he found interesting was that only one set was male, while all the other were definitely for the female form.

"I've never seen anything like this." Harry admitted, running his hand over the chest plate of the male suit. He could barely feel the dents in the metal, no doubt from spell impacts. "I wonder how old they are."

"I would say sometime during the Hundred Year War." Tonks's voice said from behind him, making him jump. "Maybe sometime in the 1400s. The plate is thick enough to withstand sword blows and spear thrusts, but not thick enough to stop the later use of the long bow, which required much thicker plate. Whichever Potter owned this was a victim of such a bow." She pointed out a spot on the plate near the left armpit where the armor had been pierced by something, and then repaired. "The plates are the blood and guts of these suits, but it's the chain mail that makes its special." She pointed out the fine chain mail that was holding the whole thing together. "They provide protection, while allowing almost normal body movement. But for magical protection… that's where things get special. The back of the plate is covered with runes that absorb magic that hits the plate, so don't be trying to cast a spell on yourself while wearing this stuff, it most likely won't work. They were also usually backed by a dragon skin vest to cut down on any spell that punched its way through the plate, or found a weak point in the chain mail." She pointed out the green leather peeking out above the neck.

"Why wouldn't they all have that?" asked Harry.

"Simple." Tonks said with a laugh. "The armor was expensive enough. Dragon skin was even more expensive. They didn't have the harvesting techniques that we have now. Someone had to actually go out and kill one, a very dangerous job."

"Anything different with the female ones?"

"You mean beyond the obvious?" asked Tonks, walking over and examining one of them. The one she was looking at had the chest plate charmed to perfectly conform with the body of the female wearing it, while the stomach was protected by interlocking small plates similarly charmed as the chest plate that allowed for normal movement. While it was very "revealing," she had a hunch it would work perfectly with her powers. In fact, each of the suits was unique in its own way. "I can tell you that each one was made for a specific female at that time. Beyond that, I can't tell you much right now without looking at them in depth. However, that male one looks like it should fit you well. I am sure we could find people who can wear the others as well. "

"Wait." Harry said looking at her sharply. "You're saying we should use these? Aren't they rare?"

"The chest plates alone are rare." Tonks answered, pointing to a pile of them on the floor next to Harry. "Intact suits that are more then 200 years old are almost unheard of. However, their ability to stop most spells is second to none, so yeah, we should use them, you especially. I highly doubt You-Know-Who is going to attack with any muggle weapons that might compromise it."

"Where did you learn all that Tonks?" Harry asked looking at her.

"Moody was my teacher." Tonks said with a shrug.

Harry nodded and left her to pack up the various pieces of armor and suits along with the books, while Hedwig helped him with the portraits. They briefly wondered what to do with a solid gold bust of his great great grandfather, but Tonks solved that by tossing it into one of the trunks that held the Galleons.

A rustling of paper distracted Harry and he looked back to see Tonks packing the books in the same manner that she had the money, making him wince. She would no doubt be chewed out by Hermione when she found out about it.

Once the biggest piles had been taken care of, Harry began to realize that a lot of what was left in the Potter section was the nick nacks that an old family tended to accumulate over the generations. Harry and Hedwig slowly drifted apart as they looked over the many items before they were packed up by a happily humming Tonks.

Hedwig was staring wistfully at what looked like a set of armor made for an owl. It was so beautifully made that she instantly wished she was still and owl so that she could wear it. She carefully carried it over to Tonks so that it could be packed up with the other armor.

Harry's attention was attracted by a red leather wand holster with inlayed hold runes to make muggles not notice it. He stared at it longingly for a minute before starting to walk away. He stopped and palmed his forehead when he realized that he owned everything in the vault. Walking back, he threaded the holster onto his belt and slid his wand into it, pleased at how well it fit.

The pair moved on, stopping every now and then to take a close look at some item or another, Tonks immediately packing the stuff that they had moved past. She was keeping a careful eye on the number of empty trunks they had available. She was grateful that they had prepared so many of them.

In the back corner of the Potter section of the vault was heap of broken furniture and various household items. Harry looked at it in confusion till he spotted a broken picture frame featuring his mom and dad. It was then that he realized that it was all that was left of his family's possessions from Gordic's Hollow. A hard lump in his throat, Harry knelt down and started picking through the pile. Hedwig stood behind him watching, and Tonks stopped for a few minutes to come rub his shoulders.

"I had always wondered what had happen to all this stuff." Harry said, unshed tears shinning in the corner of his eyes. He pulled out the broken handle of a Silver Arrow racing broom from the pile, no doubt his father's. "Why in Merlin's name didn't Dumbledore hide all this from me?"

"I don't know Harry." Tonks said. "But I can tell you this: we sure are going to find out. Dead or not, he is not going to be allowed to get away with this. You've suffered too much for that."

"Can you pack all this stuff too?" Harry asked looking up at Tonks, who nodded.

"Don't worry Harry." Tonks said gently. "We are taking everything."

"Except for twenty Sickles." Harry said quickly. "Take everything else."

Tonks looked at him curiously as the off amount, but nodded and resumed packing.

Getting up, Harry asked Hedwig to stay with Tonks and walked behind the tapestry into the Black section, cringing at the wave of dark magic that washed over him. The difference in the two families couldn't have been more striking. While the Potter family's treasures were battle focused, the Black treasures focused on greed, death, and torture. Still, there were several things that caught his eye.

Walking back to Tonks, he took three of the empty trunks from her.

"Hey Harry, you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. "There is a lot of dark stuff over there, so I don't think I will be taking most of it. There is some stuff I want, so I'll pack it myself."

"And these things have you blushing how?" Tonks asked with a shrewd smile.

"Nothing!" Harry said hastily. "I should be done around the same time you are. Be right back."

Hurry back into the Black section, he quickly threw the stuff that had caught his eye into the trunks, carefully making sure the two girls weren't spying on him. In the end, he took more than he thought he would, but there was still enough Dark arts tainted objects left behind to make him feel physically sick.

Three hours later, and two dozen shrunken feather light charmed trunks with their internal expansion charms stretched to the limits, but they were finally done. They were leaving more than they thought, but the only money was the 20 Sickles in a neat pile just inside the vault door. With a solid thud, the doors closed a final time on the Potter vault.

It was a quite group that took the wild cart ride back up to the bank. Tonks tried to talk Harry and Hedwig into waiting for her while she emptied her vault, but they insisted on going with her. So naturally they learned more about Tonks then what they had planned for when they got to her vault.

They stood there watching in amusement as a bright red Tonks hurriedly tossed dozens of leather outfits, corsets, collars, whips, and chains into a pair of trunks.

"Gee Tonks." Harry said with a smirk. "You didn't tell us that you were a Dom."

"Shut it Potter!" she snapped, hurling a large coil of rope into one of the trunks. "I'm not…" she said in a softer voice that left Harry smiling triumphal. "Normally…" she finished in a voice so soft that not even Hedwig heard her. Hedwig just looked confused about the whole thing till Harry leaned over and whispered what they were referring too.

"Remus is a lucky man." Hedwig said echoing Harry's words from earlier with a grin.

"Oh hush."

She spent a few minutes more packing away her stuff before closing her vault door and led the way back to the old goblin and the cart for the ride back. Harry and Hedwig teased her the entire ride.

Once they got back to the lobby, their guide was quickly approached by another goblin and quickly told him something. Harry was instantly on his guard when he watched the old goblin's face first take on a furious expression, then one of disgust.

"Quickly!" he snapped at them. "You must follow me at once!"

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, his hand darting to his wand handle. He noticed that the lobby was empty of other customers.

"Someone has tipped off your Ministry that you are here and they have issued a warrant for your arrest. Their… Aurors… are here, but the guards outside are denying them access for now. We must hurry. It is only a matter of time till blood is drawn. Now come!"

Harry scowled, having no doubt that the so called Aurors were dressed in black robes instead of red and sported white masks.

"Bugger!" exclaimed Tonks, whipping out her wand. Harry looked at her in concern, remembering that she was an Auror herself.

"You going to arrest me Tonks?" he asked her with an arched eyebrow.

"No, and you damn well know it." She snarled. "How are we going to get out?"

"Why do you think I am telling you to follow me?" the old goblin snapped. "Follow! Now!"

Looking at each other, the three of them followed the old goblin, ducking their heads when they entered a goblin sized door.

"What about Remus?" asked Tonks.

"Your wolf has already appareted away." The old goblin said, ignoring the hurt look on Tonks's face. "Less talking and more hurrying!"

Muttering under their breaths, they were lead to a mine cart that looked even older then the one that took them to the Potter Family Vault. The old goblin pressed a rune on the wall and a long string of lanterns stretching into the distance flared to life.

"This is our one way escape tunnel." He started to explain when more lanterns flared to life and started to flash in a steady red pulse. In the distance an alarm started to blare.

"Quickly!" the old goblin snapped at them. "Your so called Aurors have breached the doors! Get in now!"

The three quickly scrambled in, the old cart groaning. Tonks buckled herself in, and then glanced at the old goblin.

"Where does this go?"

"You'll see." The goblin said, laying a finger on another rune on the wall. "When you get there, tell the goblins that meet you that Lord Raganok orders them to seal their end of the tunnel. Tell them that the tale of Moria has come true."

Tonks and Hedwig looked clueless to what Moria meant. Harry however, had read muggle literature, widened his eyes in shock.

"NO!" he screamed as the old goblin smiled at him toothily. "Don't…!"

His cry vanished into a distant yell as the goblin raised his finger and the cart shot off.

"Goodbye Harry Potter." He said softly. "I hope we do not meet again for a long time."

He turned away, and began to walk back towards the sounds of clashing metal and spell fire. He pulled a ring off his finger and threw it aside. Gone was the old goblin. In his place was a goblin well in his prime, powerful muscles rippled under his skin, protected by a gleaming suit of golden armor.

As he neared the lobby, a bloody goblin skidded around the corner and stopped, staring at him in shock.

"Lord Raganok!" he exclaimed, dropping into the best bow his injured body would allow. "Wh-what are you doing here? You were supposed to leave on the escape cart!" Raganok scoffed.

"Did you really think I would abandon my own capital during an attack? How little you must think of me."

"But sire!" the injured goblin protested. "We can't hold them. HE is here leading the attack!"

"Come now." Raganok said sternly. "We all knew this would come to pass eventually. It is why we sent away our families weeks ago. Feel joyous in that fact that we get to fall in battle so that the one destined to protect him can get away, and not feel the cold embrace of time as it strips us of our health."

The injured goblin hesitated, and then nodded.

"Come now." Raganok said. "My blade thirsts for the blood of our enemies. See if you can get down to the high security vaults. It will be interesting to see their reactions when several of our dragons join the fray."

Smiling fiendishly, the two goblins entered the lobby and the pitched battle being fought there. By the time the sun set that day, not a single goblin still lived in the tunnels of Gringotts London, but every single corpse had a smile on its face. They had died as their race had always lived: fighters to the bitter end.

~Birds Of A Feather~

It had taken a long time, but at last the red orb had reached its destination.

Hogwarts.

Streaking in low over the lake, it dodged a few lazy grabs by the giant squid and past the few people soaking up the sun on the lake shore.

Passing through the wood of the main doors, it paused. For the first time, it wasn't 100% sure where to go. It felt the pulls in a dozen different directions. To the sobbing werewolf sitting on the steps near it, to a small office next to the potion lab, to a red and gold themed dorm common room high in a tower, to a tree back by the lake… it was too much to choose from. So it stayed still and waited for fate to guide it.

Eventually, it sensed another presence nearby, one that felt like many wrapped into one.

"Let us help you…" it whispered to the red orb. "Let us help you do what needs to be done…"

"OK…"

Following the presence upwards, the red orb passed many of the students and refugees that now called Hogwarts home. Not for the first time it cursed the existence of Tom Riddle.

The presence faded away once they got to a stone gargoyle in front of a staircase. It didn't matter. It knew exactly where it needed to go now.

Rocketing up the stairs, it came to a stop over a desk with five items on it: an ornate sword with a ruby encrusted hilt, and old wizarding children's book, a silver cigarette lighter, a letter to the Minister… and a golden snitch. The red orb hesitated for a second, and then sank into the snitch.

Instantly, the snitch unfurled it wings and darted into the air, thrashing about in distress. With a sudden crack, it split in two and fell to the floor.

From the two halves the red orb started growing, going from its spherical shape into a more defined form. It slowly solidified into that of a naked woman. A woman with long red hair and piercing green eyes.

Lily Potter was back in the world of the living, the Ring of Resurrection glittering on her right hand.

A/N: Well, there you have it. Yet another chapter written, typed, and posted! I hope the visit to Vault satisfied you, though I do apologize for killing off the entire British population of goblins. I assure you that later in the story it will become a very very important factor.

I must admit, the ending was a surprise to me as well. What the ink from my pen had put down and what I ended up typing couldn't be more different even if I tried! Yes, the red orb was Lily Potter's soul (no, I won't explain the how's… yet), and the original plan called for her to stay in a non physical form. Most of that plan is still in play, it will just take place farther down in the story.

In answer to some of your questions, yes, if you haven't realized it by now, this is a Harry/multi fic. No, it won't include every single girl in Hogwarts. No, Lily won't be joining it. Think of the title of the story, then think of who in the Potterverse it might apply to. Leave your guesses in the reviews. Those who get it right will get a shout out in the next chapter.

Also, some of you have been complaining that I have written Harry to be too weak. You're right, I have, and on purpose. Harry is just a human. Strong magically, yes, but still just a human. Almost dying changes people, and it will take Harry awhile to get back his "damn the torpedoes!" attitude. Add in that your one constant companion since you were eleven suddenly turns into a very attractive human, and your mind would be overwhelmed as well. Don't worry, he'll get better, and stronger then ever.

Anyways, it is time I wrap this up and get started on typing up the next chapter.

Don't forget to review, vote in my pole, and leave guesses for the pairings!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The tunnel, and the cart ride, seemed endless. They were traveling at speeds that would have been impossible for Harry to even dream about achieving on his Firebolt. All of their faces were pulled into a grin, though Tonks used her metamorphic powers to flap her cheeks a meter behind her.

"Where do you think we are going?" Harry managed to yell out over the rushing wind.

"It would help if I knew what direction we're headed in!" Tonks yelled back (although how Harry had now idea). "But no matter what direction we are headed in, we are no doubt leaving England!"

"Maybe Ireland?"

"No!" Hedwig yelled suddenly. "We are heading south-east!"

If the force of gravity would have let them, Harry and Tonks would have looked at Hedwig in shock. Hedwig, however, still seemed to sense their feelings.

"I don't know how I know!" she wailed. "I just do!"

"Well if you're right," Tonks yelled after a minute "We are probably headed to Paris!"

"Why do you say that?"

"That is where the nearest Gringotts branch is!"

They lapsed into silence once more, the whistling of the air going past the only sound heard. After what seemed like a twenty minute ride in the faint light provided by lanterns zooming past overhead, a bright speck of light started to grow in the distance.

"About bloody time!" Tonks exclaimed. "We need to contact Remus as soon as we get out and let him know we got out OK."

As the light grew bigger and brighter, the cart started slowing down noticeably. Now that the air whistling past had subsided, they were able to hear noises echoing down the tunnel. Loud excited voices, the slamming of heavy doors, and over it all, the wailing of a siren like the one they had heard at the Gringotts in London.

"Crap." Harry said. "Do you think they were attacked too?"

"I doubt it." Tonks replied, her hand slipping under her robes to grip the handle of her wand anyways. "You-Know-Who has found little support in the rest of Europe. Many still remember the horrors committed by Grindwald and his forces. Plus, as long as You-Know-Who stays in England, the ICW isn't really compelled to act against him." She didn't have the heart to tell him that if Voldemort learned he had escaped, he would probably chase him to China if he had to.

"Lazy buggers." Harry said bitterly, as his hand rest on his wand handle too.

However, once they coasted out of the tunnel, they both froze, then slowly joined Hedwig in holding their hands in the air. Nearly three dozen spears were aimed at the their heads, with a dozen wands added in to still any thoughts of sudden movement. The flashing red lanterns just capped the whole thing off.

One of the goblins was yelling at them in french at such a rapid clip that Harry doubted that even if he knew french he wouldn't be able to follow it. Every time he opened his mouth to say something, one of the spears would jab closely throat, prompting him to shut his mouth. Exasperated, he let out a sigh, the burst of rustling his hair.

" 'arry?" asked a female voice with an edge of shock in it, "Is that you?"

A second later and one of the wands clattered to the ground and a young woman with long blond hair burst through the thicket of spears aimed at them and threw herself into Harry's shocked arms.

"You're alive!" she cried out, showering his cheeks with kisses. "I 'ad feared zee worse when you went missing!"

It wasn't until the woman turned and was saying something in french to the others did he realize who it was.

"Fluer?" he asked incredulously. "What are you doing here? For that matter, where is here anyways?" Fluer's laugh sent a pleasant shiver up Harry's spine, while most of the guards relaxed and moved back to their posts.

"Did zey not tell you? You are in Paris now mon cheri! Zis iz zee Paris branch of Gringotts. I work 'ere."

For the first time Harry looked around. Instantly he was struck by how different the Paris Gringotts was from the London Gringotts. While London was an imposing white marble fortress, it was clear that the Paris goblins liked to show off their wealth. The area where they had come out was separated from the lobby and the rest of the carts by two massive stained glass walls. The walls themselves were lavishly decorated with colorful wall hangings and highly detailed living paintings. Before Harry could say anything, one of the goblins stepped forward, his gem encrusted armor giving him away as some sort of officer.

"I think it is time you explain yourself Mr. Potter..." he started to say in slightly accented english before Harry raised his right hand to show him his rings. "Excuse me, Lord Potter-Black." the goblin corrected himself. "Now do you mind to tell me why we received an emergency message from London, and then you four show up on the evacuation cart instead of our lord?"

Now that it looked like they weren't going to be killed, the reality of what they had left behind settled down on Harry like a lead weight. He tried to speak but the words got caught in his throat. Tonks rubbed his shoulders with a curious look on her face, while Fluer looked at him in concern.

"Moria..." he managed to say softly, the goblin officer suddenly stiffening. "Raganok said Moria..."

"AIEE!" the goblin cried out, followed by a long stream of gobbledygook that soon had the entire bank ringing with the sounds of grief from the goblins.

"Harry..." asked Tonks slowly, noticing that several of the humans were crying as well. "What is Moria?" Harry swallowed hard, and was grateful when Fluer gave him a Calming Drought and hit him with a strong Cheering Charm.

"A long time ago, a muggle writer wrote a series of fictional stories. In one of them he wrote of a massive dwarf city and mine, sort of like Gri...er... London Gringotts, called Moria. The city was attacked by dark forces, and all of the dwarfs died fighting."

Tonks's eyes bulges slightly.

"You mean we left them there to die?!" she screeched, her hair flaring a deep red. In a flash she was out of the cart and running towards the tunnel, wand drawn.

Instantly the goblin officer stopped his keening, and with a speed that surprised Harry who was trying to struggle out of the cart, tackled Tonks with a flying leap.

"No!" he yelled. "You can't go back!"

"We left them there to die!" Tonks yelled, he suddenly sharp nails ripping through the goblin's armor. Keeping a firm grip on her, the goblin yelled out something in french. Almost immediately. Fluer and another french witch started firing spells into the tunnel, vanishing support beams and blasting apart walls. In a matter of seconds, a hundred foot long section of the tunnel collapsed in a cloud of dust. When it cleared, Tonks ceased her struggles and started sobbing bitterly.

"We left them to die..." was all she kept saying.

"Then let them!" the goblin said harshly. "Let them die fighting with the honor they have earned! Going back would achieve nothing and render they sacrifice meaningless! Think! How would you protect Lord Potter-Black then? He is many miles from a home he can't easily get back to, in a country that has its own share of dark wizards and witches!" Once Tonks had calmed down somewhat, he continued.

"Do not think that you are safe here. Once your Lord Voldemort learns that Lord Potter-Black has escaped yet again, he will follow him here. Do not be shocked if all of magical Europe is plunged into war. Your life is no longer yours to hazard. You are all who Lord Potter-Black has left."

"Hey!" Hedwig protested angrily.

"Owls do not count." the goblin said simply.

" 'e iz still not alone Manager Boneblood." Fluer said suddenly. "I am sorry, but I must resign my job 'ere."

Boneblood looked at her for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"Resignation rejected." he said simply. He held up his hand to stop Fluer from speaking. "However, I do suggest that you take a paid vacation of... oh... a year." Fluer opened her mouth to argue, then what Boneblood has said sank in and she smiled happily.

"Thank you!" she said with a curtsy.

With surprising strength, Boneblood pulled Tonks to her feet and unceremoniously dumped her into Harry's arms, who had finally managed to free himself from the cramped cart. While Harry was reassuring Tonks, Boneblood walked over to Fluer and hugged her waist.

"Be careful." he whispered to her. In french, he whispered even softer: "Guard your heart my friend."

"It was lost long ago." Fluer replied in french hugging him back.

Breaking apart, Boneblood was relieved to see Tonks had recovered.

"Normally I would be telling you to go to France's Ministry of Magic, but sadly our Ministry is just as corrupt as yours is. Word of your survival would get back to Lord Voldemort the second you stepped across the ward lines. As is you have precious little time till Gringotts London is thoroughly searched and the conclusion is made that you have escaped."

"So how do we get back to Britain and Hogwarts?" asked Harry with a touch of worry edging into his voice. If Remus was right, he needed to get back to Hogwarts soon to activate the wards.

"It is too far for a direct apparition from France to England." Boneblood said. "And you cant get an international portkey without going through the french ministry. Your best bet is wait a few days then take one of the muggle ferries across the Channel."

He stepped back and looked at the four of them before sighing. Harry was really starting to appreciate the french goblin's human-like nature.

"I wish I could say that you will have the help of the goblin nation in your quest Lord Potter-Black, but Lord Voldemort has taken us out of the fight. We are paralyzed without a king, and when Raganok was elected, it was after a five year long process, the shortest amount of time in goblin history. The most I can do is offer you all the luck I have, and pray that it is enough." He paused and looks Tonks in the eyes.

"Just so you know, the fall of Gringotts London will prompt all other branches to increase their security. You won't be able to pull what you did in London again. When we say your true form, we mean it."

Tonks flushed a bright red, her hair shifting colors to match.

"Now Go!" Boneblood said sharply. "Good luck, lay low, and if the gods are with us, we will all still be alive at the end of this."

"Hopefully..." Harry said in a dead voice. Once more, the prophecy came to the front of his mind. Hedwig stood next to him and nuzzled his shoulder.

"Come on Master." she said softly, and Harry nodded. Fluer arched an elegant eyebrow at what Hedwig had called him, but didn't saying anything at that moment, instead leading them out of the silent bank and into the noisy crowds of France's magical shopping center.

"Welcome to La Place Magique!" Fluer announced proudly. For Harry, the sight that greeted his eyes would become one that stayed with him for the rest of his life. There were hundreds of shops, multicolored pendants flew everywhere, and in the background, the massive Eiffel Tower dominated the skyline. As for the sheer number of people, Harry wouldn't even begin to try and make a guess on how many there were.

"Merlin Fluer! He exclaimed. "How do you guys keep all of this hidden from the muggles?"

Fluer fidgeted.

"No offense 'arry." she said. "but your British culture eez... behind.. in terms of technology and magical understanding, non?"

Harry flushed and nodded sheepishly.

"I figured as much." he admitted. "I noticed that during the Quidditch World Cup."

Fluer lead them onto the Plaza, pointing out various points of interest to Harry and Tonks. Both of them were glad that some of her accent had eased up, allowing them to understand her better. Meanwhile, Hedwig wished she was an owl again so that she could turn her head in all the directions she wanted to while she took in the sights.

"So where are we going to go? Asked Tonks once it became clear that Fluer was leading them in a specific direction. "What is your idea of lying low?"

"To my apartment, non? Eet eez zee safest place in Paris eez eet not?"

"Of course." Tonks said with a flush as she remembered. "As a curse breaker you must have some pretty exotic wards around your place."

"Naturally."

"So how are we going to get there?" Harry asked. "Walk?"

"Floo of course." Fluer answered, her tone of voice making it clear what she thought of the brilliance of that question.

"Bloody hell..." Harry cursed. "I am never going to get used to that... give me a broom any day."

"Don't worry." Tonks said kindly, helping guide Hedwig through a crowd of German tourists. "We all have a hard time at first."

"Great..." Harry replied sarcasticly. "Great help from the girl who fell out of the floo herself!"

" 'arry," Fluer said while Tonks mimicked a beet. "Zee key to using zee floo eez that you don't stop walking forward. Otherwise you will lose your balance when you exit zee other end."

"Wonderful!" Harry exclaimed. "Why the bloody hell didn't anyone tell me that five years ago?"

There was a round of laughter from the girls as Harry muttered angrily under his breath. The crowd started to thin and Harry saw the Plaza's floo connection, 30 fireplaces located under a large stone arch. Fluer pushed her way to the front of the line and secured the use of one of them. From the glazed looks on many of the men left in her wake, Harry suspected that she used her allure to aid her. Fluer wrote the name and location of her apartment on a slip of parchment and showed it to them.

"Fidelus?" Tonks guessed.

"Oui." Fluer replied. "So please... whisper it as quietly as you can please."

Hedwig raised her hand in the air.

"Can someone please go ahead of me?" she asked with a blush on her face. "After what happened last time..." she trailed off, her blush growing darker.

"Oui, of course!" Fluer said with a giggle as she quickly burned the parchment and vanished the ashes. "What kind of a hostess would I be if I wasn't there to greet you?"

Tossing the floo powder into the fireplace, she waved and stepped forward to vanish into the green flames. Gulping, Hedwig quickly followed Fluer and vanished as well. Tonks stopped Harry before he could go through.

"Don't worry Harry." she said gently. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"I'd much rather you found a way to get back to Remus on your own." Harry replied seriously. "He must be going crazy right now."

"He'd go even more crazy if he knew I left you with a human owl and veela barely two years out of a french school that has the poorest defense against the dark arts class in all of Europe!"

"Well... when you put it like that..."

"Just get going will you?" she gave him a playful shove towards the fireplace.

Grinning, he tossed in the powder and whispered out the name of Fluer's apartment. With a roar of green flames, he watched Tonks and the plaza vanish.

~ Birds Of A Feather~

Lily Potter sat in Dumbledore's chair with her eyes closed. She was still naked, but after fifteen years of being a bodiless spirit powering the wards around Privet Drive, things like that no longer bothered her. What did bother her was being stuck in this office, the door wouldn't open for her. It was just one more thing to be mad about. Fifteen years of not being able to cross over, all due to one old man's manipulations. Dumbledore's portrait was lucky that she hadn't seized the Sword of Gryffindor and slashed it to ribbons.

She sighed heavily, her heart aching with loss. It took all her willpower not to rip the the ring off of her finger and go back into the form she had before. The Resurrection Stone on the ring was all that was keeping her in this body, and she wasn't sure that she could just keep going back and forth. So, she lived with the pain.

Opening her eyes and getting up, she walked over to Dumbledore's mirror and examined herself in it. Her body had recreated itself to that of what it had been when she had died at the age of twenty-one. She wasn't sure how she felt about that. While on one hand she had always loved her looks, on the other hand she now wasn't much older physically then Harry now.

Harry... closing her eyes again, she focused on the slight tug that she knew was in Harry's direction. Powered by the magic of the ring and the energy of the dead, she could have easily apparated to his side, but that would involve ripping through the wards of Hogwarts, and no one wanted that.

She cursed under her breath. Barely an hour alive and she already she was stressed out. She walked back over to the chair and collapsed in it.

"How in Merlin's name am I going to explain this to him?"

Her mind troubled, Lily fell into a restless sleep.

A/N: Yes, I know, a hell of a long break, and not that long of a chapter when I do post. I can explain. First of all, I was flat on my back with the flu for over a month, and I could barely sit up long enough to write this, never mind type it out. For that, I am sorry, and hope that I don't have such a long break again in the future. Second, this seemed like a very natural place to end it, considering the events I have planned for the next chapter.

As for Fleur's accent... I wasn't sure, so I will leave it to you, the readers, to tell me what you think of it. Too much? Not enough? Let me know so I can make corrections.

And, as always, feel free to leave a general review of what you think of the story so far, and where you think I might be taking this, what ships might develop, stuff like that.

Thanks for reading and see you next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

With a burst of green flames, Harry stepped out of the fire place… and promptly fell flat on his face. Wincing painfully, he slowly got to his feet. Adjusting his glasses on his face, he looked around to see what he could of Fleur's apartment… and froze, not even moving when Tonks stepped out of the fire place behind him and also started staring.

Fleur had her hands on Hedwig's shoulders, and the veela was kissing the white-haired female passionately, moaning softly. Hedwig, while her body posture indicated she was shocked, she still had a blissful look of enjoyment on her face. The kiss lasted for a long two minutes before Fleur opened her eyes and saw Harry and Tonks standing there.

Instantly, Fleur and Hedwig jumped apart, Fleur's face flushing a brilliant red. She immediately started stammering at them in French. Harry shook his head to jolt himself out of his shock and hurried over to Fluer.

"Fleur!" he shouted at her. "Calm down! I can't understand you! You need to speak English." Fluer nodded her head and tried again.

"I am so sorry 'arry!" she exclaimed. "I don't know what 'appened! She came through and I just felt zis urge to kiss 'er. I didn't mean to kiss your girlfriend!"

"Fleur, relax." Harry said soothingly. "While I am grateful that you let her into your home without asking who she is, but you already know her. You were just kissing Hedwig."

Fleur blinked and looked at the two of them in confusion. Tonks's skin tingled as she felt Fluer lose control of her allure, but Harry either didn't notice or wasn't affected. He smiled and decided to fill her in.

"My guardians decided to be exceptionally violent one night." He explained. "Hedwig tried to protect me, and was seriously injured as a result. After that, I kinda lost control. I mean, Hedwig was my first friend! So even though I was pretty badly injured myself, I fought back. Maybe too much. I don't know if they are alive or dead."

Here, Harry paused to collect his thoughts, while Fleur looked at him in horror and awe. Horror in that Harry's guardians had tried to kill him, and awe in the fact that he had survived yet another attempt on his life. Hedwig merely looked down at the floor in shame, her failure to protect her master a bitter memory that wouldn't fade anytime soon.

"I was pretty sure the two of us were going to be arrested, either by the ministry or muggle police, so I set Hedwig on my bed to grab what I could before fleeing. I didn't expect us to get far with our injuries."

"I guess zat would explain your clothes?" Fleur asked with a giggle.

"Actually these are my normal clothes." Harry replied with a slight blush of shame. The giggling instantly stopped.

"While I was packing," Harry continued. "Hedwig started transforming. She turned into the female you see now, and hasn't turned back since. Considering she is… was… er… is, my familiar, and I'm pretty sure the two events were connected somehow, I don't know if she can magically turned back, or if she even wants to." Fleur looked at him sharply.

"Wait, you said she iz your familiar?"

"Yeah."

"You are sure of zis?"

"As sure as we can be without taking the ministry tests." Harry said, getting slightly annoyed. "Our connection matches the description what every book written on the subject I could find anyways."

Fleur took a step back, her facial expression cycling from one of shock, to awe, and finally, as sank to her knees and started sobbing, one of bitter sadness.

"Fleur!" Harry exclaimed, shocked at her sudden change of emotions, he hurried to her side and knelt down. "What's wrong?"

Fleur tried to reply, but her sobs made her already broken English impossible to understand. Harry looked desperately at Tonks for help, who instantly hit Fleur with a powerful cheering charm.

"Merci!" Fleur told Tonks after taking a few shuddering breaths.

"What was that all about?" Harry asked.

"'arry…" Fleur said slowly after a pause. "If you are right about 'edwig being your familiar… I can think of only one thing zat would cause 'er to change like zis after trying to protect each other regardless of your own lives… if I am right, then something wonderful and rare has occurred."

"What?" asked Harry and Hedwig together.

"I think the two of you formed a familiar soul bond."

Silence.

"A what?" asked Tonks at last.

"A familiar soul bond." Fleur repeated. "You have heard of soul bonds no?"

"Sure." Harry answered. "Professor Flitwick talked about them one year on Valentine's Day. They're really rare aren't they?"

"No 'arry." Fleur said. "Familiars are rare. At your age, even rarer. Soul bonds are even rarer zen zat. Zee last recorded soul bond on zee entire Earth was sixty years ago. Before Zat it had been two hundred years. Zat iz 'ow rare they are."

"And what's a familiar soul bond?" asked Harry. Fleur sighed bitterly.

"It iz a combination of the two. As you know, Familiars are a strong emotional attachment between a human and their… well… pet. A soul bond forms when two people whose souls form a perfect match, fall deep enough in love for zee souls to merge into one and zee bond to form. Please don't ask me 'ow zat process works, because it iz simply not known. There 'ave been too few of them to do a proper study, and zee two zat did form in recent history 'appened too quickly to study anyways. There is very little warning, and as you might imagine it's not often zat zee requirements are fully met." She stopped and they waited for her to continue.

"A familiar soul bond," Fleur continued. "Iz a combination of zee two. You 'ave the emotional bond of a familiar, as well as zee connection of two souls merged together from love."

"And how rare is this?" asked Tonks.

"Zee one and only recorded familiar soul bond in 'istory was made by Merlin."

"Merlin!" exclaimed Harry and Tonks together.

"Of course." Fleur said, "Why did you think Morgana's surname was le Fay?"

"You aren't saying that Morgana… Morgana was a fairy?" Tonks looked flabbergasted as she asked.

"Why are you so surprised?" Fleur asked. "Was 'e not zee world's greatest wizard, no?"

"But the two of them were mortal enemies at the end…" Harry said slowly. Fleur scowled angrily despite of the cheering charm.

"Leave it to zee British to lie about their own 'istory! They were on opposite sides of zee war, yes, but not to fight! They were trying to find a peace between Arthur and Lancelot, and as healers for the wounded soldiers after the battles. Once zee war was over, they disappeared into 'istory together." Harry's shoulders slumped.

"So you mean to tell me that this is just one more thing to set me apart from others?" Hedwig hissed angrily, but didn't say anything as she understood what Harry meant by it.

"Sorry Harry." Tonks said cheerfully. "It sure looks that way. Is there any way to check all this?" Fleur looked insulted.

"Please!" she exclaimed. "I am both French AND Veela! You think I do not know spells of love?" she pointed to her couch. "Sit!" harry scrambled to obey.

"Japanese wizards discovered long ago that when we are born, our fates are already tied to other people. They developed a spell that showed these connections, which reveal themselves as threads connecting those with tied fates. Over time, they refined zee spell so that only certain connections showed according to zee caster's wishes. I will use zee ones showing familiar and love connections."

Harry nodded and waited as Fleur pointed her wand at him and muttered a long spell under her breath. A pink beam lanced out and hit Harry in the chest. For several seconds, nothing happened, then from the ring finger of his left hand, numerous multi-colored immaterial threads appeared, branching off in several directions, most of them heading north-west to England.

"What do the various colors mean?" asked Tonks with amusement.

"Let us start with zee ones going to 'edwig, since they explain most of the others." Fleur said pointing to the three twisted together strings connecting Harry's left hand and Hedwig's left hand.

"The gold string iz their familiar connection, so you were right about that part 'arry. Zee red string is their soul bond, so zat... that… pretty much confirms my theory, no?"

"And the blue string?" asked Tonks with an arched eyebrow. Fleur was silent for a second.

"Sexual attraction." She said at last. "It iz what most relationships are based off of, so I am not surprised to see it. Zee darker zee blue, zee stronger zee attraction." Harry instantly blushed, as he had several navy blue threads trailing from his finger.

While five trailed away to the north-west, two additional navy-blue threads stayed in the apartment. Fleur was a delicate shade of pink as she looked at the thread tied tightly around her ring finger. Tonks decided to tease him about the tread tied around her finger.

"So tell me Harry." She said in a sweet voice. "What part of me are you lusting over? My ass or my tits?" Harry flushed even more, and then felt his Gryffindor courage perk up.

"Both actually." He replied, making Hedwig burst out giggling. "I'm trying to figure out a spell that will rip off all your clothes, but no luck so far." Tonks grinned.

"For how long?" she asked simply.

"I've always been attracted, but it really settled in earlier today at Gringotts, when I saw your true form." Tonks arched an eyebrow but didn't say anything else.

"And me?" Fleur asked softly.

"Honestly?" Harry said. "The night our names came out of the goblet. Sure, I was annoyed at the time, but when you called me a 'little boy,' you were, and have, been the only person to actually look at who I am, not as Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived."

Fleur blinked in surprise, and Tonks smiled. She knew that had been a problem with Harry ever since he joined the wizarding world, and she was pleased that he was able to see when people weren't blinded by his fame. She arched an eyebrow when she felt Fleur release her allure slowly, watching Harry for a reaction. She smirked at the spark of hope in Fleur's eyes when Harry didn't react, still examining the strings with interest.

"So what do the white strings represent?" Harry asked, pointing to the two going to England.

"Love of family." Fleur said with a smile. "Who in England do you count as family?"

Harry opened his mouth to say the Weasleys, and then stopped. While he still had strong feelings for them, Ron's actions over the years had cooled things. So who else was he really close to? It took him a couple of minutes of deep thinking with the three girls talking amongst themselves for him to come to an answer.

"Hermione." He said suddenly making the girls stop and look at him.

"What was that?" Tonks asked.

"I think one of the family strings goes to Hermione." Harry said with a look of understanding crossing his face. "She is my third oldest friend in this world, yet I have never really had a romantic interest in her. I think it's because I have always thought of her as a sister. Hence, one of the white strings. I still don't know who the second one could belong to."

"Aww!" Tonks cooed. "See? You had family all along, you just didn't see it."

"Oh hush." Harry said as Hedwig giggled. "Like Hermione said once, we boys have the emotional range of a teaspoon and the emotional comprehension to match. Why shouldn't it make sense that it took me almost seven years to realize it?"

"I'm impressed Harry," Tonks said. "That was pretty mature for a guy."

"Oh hush." Harry repeated. He held up his left hand, the gold glittering under the soft glow given out by the threads tied to it. "Are we done?"

"Oui, we are done." Fleur said lifting her wand to release the spell.

She froze as she watched a red thread slowly shimmer into view, flutter around her finger a few times, then suddenly fastened itself to her finger with an elegant knot while twisting tightly together with the blue string. She glanced up at Tonks who was back to teasing Harry and Hedwig, and saw the same thing happen to her. Fleur's mouth parted slightly as she felt something edge into her mind. She knew the impossible had happened: Harry had formed a soul bond with her and Tonks. She looked back at Tonks and saw no change in posture to indicate she knew anything changed, so she quickly waved her wand and the strings faded away. How could this have happened so quickly? Were their souls so perfectly matched that the mere acknowledgment of his attraction to them allowed the bond to form? Tonks she knew had been in love with Harry since she had first met the newborn Harry as a little girl. And with her…

"But wait," Harry said suddenly, making Fleur's already rapidly beating heart started beating painfully fast. Had he seen the strings before she had released the spell? "Why would any of this explain why you felt the need to kiss Hedwig?"

"And what a kiss!" Tonks chimed in.

Fleur blushed, torn between relief in knowing that they hadn't seen and felt what she did, and annoyed that she would have to respond.

"It iz zee soul bond." She explained. "Both of you have some of the other's soul mixed in with your soul, as it iz the nature of zee bond, no? I wasn't expecting that so when 'edwig came through, my instinct must 'ave completely taken over… and… umm…"

"You would have shagged her if we hadn't come through." Tonks said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Silence you!" Fleur exclaimed, turned beet red and burying her face in her hands. Hedwig giggled at the thought (and at Tonks's lewd body movements) giving Fleur the chance to recover.

Forcing a smile onto her face, Fleur stood up and headed to her kitchen.

"You must be 'ungry, no?" she asked her three quests.

"Do you have bacon?" Hedwig immediately asked, and then looked around in confusion as everyone burst into laughter. All the stress from the past twenty-four hours seemed to spill out all at once and disappear.

"I guess one thing will always stay the same." Tonks said struggling to not laugh long enough to talk. "And that fact is that Hedwig will always love bacon regardless of what form she is in."

"Oui." Fleur said with a genuine smile. "I have some. I'll go make some now." Hedwig clapped happily and everyone burst out laughing again.

~ Birds Of A Feather ~

Late that night, Fleur sat on her couch staring into a long gone cold cup of coffee. Her mind, which normally would have rivaled Hermione in terms of organization, was running a hundred miles a minute, something that hadn't happened since the last task of the Triwizard Tournament. Once again, it was for the same reason: Harry Potter. Her hands tightened around the cup and the coffee was suddenly boiling.

"You know…" a female voice said from the doorway. "That's a good way to make the cup shatter and hurt yourself." Fleur turned her head and saw Tonks standing there.

"Can't sleep?" Tonks asked and Fleur shook her head.

"Oui," Fleur answered. "My 'ead won't let me."

"Ah, thinking about your bond with Harry and how to act on it?" Fleur gaped at her.

"How did you…?" she asked weakly, while Tonks moved towards her and sat down.

"Simple." She said softly. "You know what I am right?" Fluer's gaze flicked from her to the doorway Tonks had just left. "Relax, Harry is still in bed, though he might be shocked when he wakes up. Hedwig crawled into his bed. Now, answer the question." Fleur chuckled weakly.

"Oui..." she said softly. "I know what you are."

"Then you should know I can sense the bonds between people. Not what kind of bond specifically, but I can sense it nevertheless."

"Does that mean…?"

"Yes. I know of the bond when it formed between me and Harry. I am choosing to ignore it in favor of Remus."

"You would ignore a…?"

"Yes! You know my focus is on a different aspect of love, and Remus has that in spades. I highly doubt that Harry would even begin to compete. Still, why are you so fixated on Harry? Soul bonds don't form on a one way street."

"I am not fixated!" Fleur protested, and then hung her head shyly. "It iz my veela nature. Many do not realize it, but each veela's allure is unique, so we look for a mate who can resist it. We don't hope to find someone who iz completely immune. If there iz enough veela, anyone would be overwhelmed by it. It iz why our villages are off limits to outsiders. Yet, if we find that one person, we can only that their magic meshes with us, to form that perfect match. It doesn't happen often, but when it does…"

"What?" Tonks asked. "What happens?"

"Our allure attaches to their magic, and we become almost addicted to them. It iz a Veela magic based bond. Some might call it slavery, but we care not, for the love that grows out of such unions… they are what the great romantic stories are based off of."

"Oui… and yet, no." Fleur hesitated, struggling with her accent, and then carefully set her cup down on the coffee table. "When I first met 'arry, I must admit, 'e didn't impress me much. Y-yes, 'e was able to resist the allure much better than most, but that was his only redeeming quality at the time. I am sorry to say that I left a 'orrible first impression. The night of the drawing of the names, I called 'im a "little boy" and did all I could to act like I considered him lower then the slime that forms in a puddle of water."

Tonks burst out laughing, which she quickly controlled.

"Oh Fleur!" she exclaimed. "No wonder he's attracted to you!"

"What do you mean?"

"Harry hates his fame. You didn't treat him as Harry Potter, you treated him as the fourteen year-old rule breaker that he was. If he hadn't been in shock, and had the self confidence that he does now, he probably would have grabbed you and snogged you right then and there, other people in the room be damned." She stopped and looked thoughtful. "Then again, you most likely would have written that off to the allure and not true attraction…"

"You would be right." Fleur said with a soft laugh. "If you could sense magic like a veela could, you would know what I am talking about. 'arry's magical aura…" she paused and shivered hard with pleasure, barely repressing a moan though she longed to do so. "It iz intoxicating. When I first meet 'im, it was strong, I could feel it surround me. It iz… more so? Now. 'owever, there was a darkness about 'im that pushed me away. After zee third task 'owever, zee darkness vanished, and I could revel in 'is aura, but by that time..."

"You were with Bill Weasley."

"Oui.. he too could resist the allure, not as well as 'arry, certainly not as well as he resisted it tonight, but well enough. Enough I could be very 'appy with 'im. And for two years, I was."

"What happened?" came Harry's voice from the doorway, making the two girls jump. "I had been wondering why I didn't see Bill here."

Fleur blushed.

"'ow long were you standing there?" she asked softly.

"Long enough to make a few things a lot clearer about my fourth year." He replied, ignoring Tonks's sudden arching of her eyebrow. "So what happened? Where's Bill?"

Fleur hesitated, biting her lower lip, thinking hard. Making up her mind, she stood up and gripped the hem of her shirt. In a single fluid movement, she pulled off her top and tossed it onto the couch. Her heart beating rapidly, she held still while Harry's (he was a guy after all) gaze lingered on her blue lace clad breasts, before moving down to her taunt stomach. His eyes widened. Her stomach, while so well defined that it would have made any super model jealous, was criss-crossed with dozens of scars.

"Fleur!" Harry exclaimed. "What happened?" Fluer paused before answering.

"It was zee full moon, 'is first since 'is attack no? 'e was so worried so… I… umm…"

"Oooo!" Tonks exclaimed. "You were letting him munch the carpet?"

Fleur blushed a bright red, while Harry arched an eyebrow.

"'e always wanted to, so I let 'im. Then zee moon rose and…"

"He changed?" Harry asked sharply, stiffening his back.

"No!" Fleur exclaimed. "Greyback was not changed when 'e attacked Bill, so 'e iz spared that. But… 'e wasn't spared from everything. When zee moon rose… 'e became violent. 'is tender caresses suddenly dug into my skin, tearing it open. My blood soaked zee bed, and he would have torn me completely open if I 'ad not been able to grab my wand and blast him off. Zee damage was done though. These scars will never fade." She hung her head. "I am sorry."

"For what?" Harry asked.

"For not being perfect." Fleur answered in a small voice. Harry walked over and stood right in front of Fluer, who took in a shuddering breath.

"Perfection is a point of view." He told her gently, fighting back the urge to caress her stomach. "So what are you feeling now?"

Fleur's breathing was coming fast and shallow, and her eyes flicked up to lock on Harry's lips less then a foot away from her own. She suddenly realized that Harry was now just as tall as she was.

"I can no longer sense zee darkness around you." She said softly in a husky voice. "And your magical aura… I knew it was you before you even came out of zee tunnel at zee bank, I could feel it sweep over me like a warm blanket on a cold day." She closed her eyes. "I feel like it's on zee verge of driving me crazy…" She fought back another moan, and reluctantly took a step back.

"I can't 'arry. I want to, but I need to talk to my matriarch first. When I do, I will be able to tell you more." She smiled sheepishly, and her breathing hitched for a second when Harry closed the distance and hugged her.

"Take all the time you need." He said softly into her ear, making her shiver.

"Thank you 'arry." She said, acutely aware that she was still standing there in a very thin lace bra.

"You didn't finish your story." Tonks said. "What happened after you got Bill off of you?"

"'e immediately tried to attack me again, so I had to 'it 'im with a stunner."

"Then what?" asked Harry.

"I did not let 'im wake up till zee full moon was over. Zee first thing that 'e asked was what had happened. I tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, but these wounds… they are cursed enough that magic cannot 'eal them. 'e soon saw zee blood and forced me to tell zee truth. 'e… 'e broke up with me then and there, and I 'ave not seen or 'eard from 'im since." She looked at Tonks, the unspoken question clear in her eyes.

"No Fleur." Tonks answered. "We all thought he was here in France with you. I have no idea what I am going to tell Molly."

Harry groaned, the screaming of an irate Mrs. Weasley already echoing through his mind. Regardless, he tried and failed to stifle a yawn, before glancing at his watch to note the time.

"I think we all need to go back to bed." Tonks said with a chuckle.

"Oui." Fleur said. "Why did you two get up for anyways?"

"I just wanted to get a drink." Tonks answered.

"Umm…" Harry stammered. "Hedwig has wandering hands when she sleeps. I was going to crash on the couch." Both girls laughed.

"'arry… zee couch is my bed for now. Tonks iz sleeping in my bed and you are sleeping in my guest bed. So what you are saying iz that you wish to sleep with me no?" Harry flushed a bright red.

"N-no!" he stammered out. "Maybe I'll just sleep on the floor of Tonks's room." Tonks laughed even harder.

"I guess you didn't know." She said. "I always sleep in the nude." She parted the bathrobe she was wearing enough to show that she really was nude beneath it. "Plus when my hands wander, they DON'T stop until they get what they want." Harry blushed even more at her wink.

"I think I'll just sleep in the tub…" he muttered.

"What?" said Tonks. "And be molested by everyone who goes in there?"

"Argh!" Harry exclaimed, throwing up his arms and vanished back into the room he was sharing.

Chuckling merrily, the two girls went back to their respective beds although a pair of dark blue eyes stared up at the ceiling long into the night. Thus ended one of the strangest, and longest, days of Harry's life.

~ Birds Of A Feather ~

Dumbledore's former office was in ruins.

When Lily had woken up, the first thing she saw was Dumbledore's portrait watching her. She had no idea how a portrait could have eyes that twinkle, but it was enough to drive her over the edge into a towering rage. Not knowing that her son had done the same almost two years previously, she started grabbing every decoration that wasn't charmed down and started hurling them around the room. When she ran out of those, she started tossing the hundreds of books out of the bookcases, her anger far from satisfied. She only stopped when she ran out of breath, her dust covered naked body dropping into a chair whose cushion was shredded to ribbons. A few tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Are you done yet destroying my office yet?" Dumbledore asked her kindly. Lily saw red.

"No I'm not you miserable old braggart!" she yelled. Grabbing a heavy tome, she hurled it at Dumbledore's portrait. The book hit the painting's frame, which, to her surprise, fell off the wall, revealing a large hidden compartment. Ignoring Dumbledore's angry protests, Lily got up and walked over to investigate. What she found sickened her.

Dumbledore, it seemed, had spent the past sixteen years following every aspect of Harry and Neville's lives. Like a typical stalker, he had collected items that had been important in both boys' lives. Items like a broken Rememberball and part of a broom handle that said Nimbus 2000 filled the space. Another alarming thing she discovered was a thick parchment packet that detailed Dumbledore's efforts to control who Harry was friends with and an unsigned marriage contract between her Harry and a Ginny Weasley. The next thing that attracted her attention was a long oak box in the back. Opening it, her eyes suddenly blazed with a renewed fury as she saw her and James's wands laying in it.

"You still have our wands?" asked Lily down to Dumbledore's portrait on the floor, her body shaking with fury. "You had them all this time and NOT told Harry? According to a law dating back to the time of Merlin, he was supposed to get them when he turned eleven you manipulative old fool! What else have you not done?" Grabbing her wand, she aimed it at the portrait. She swore that she saw him pale a little.

"It was for the Greater Good." He said feebly.

"The Greater Good?!" Lily exploded. "Is that what you have been using to justify all your actions? Dumbledore! You fought Grindwald because he said the same thing!"

Dumbledore fidgeted and Lily quickly fired a spell at him to prevent him from leaving his portrait.

"I didn't really want to fight him." Dumbledore said tiredly. "But the international community eventually forced me to confront him. I hated that fight, as I have hated all fights since then."

"Let me guess." Lily said coldly. "You haven't been letting the Order and others from using more permanent solutions against the Death Eaters?"

"Good heavens no! You can't reform a dead Death Eater. I am truly saddened by the deaths that have happened so far."

"Dumbledore!" Lily cried. "Enough is enough! Half of the Order was killed in the last war because they used non-lethal spells till it was too late. How many were you going to let die this time around? When will you realize that not everyone can be redeemed?"

"But Severus…"

"Severus betrayed us! Betrayed ME! In some ways, he us more responsible for our deaths then Pettigrew is! Do you honestly believe that if Harry had died as Voldemort (in Hogsmead, two Death Eaters tried to apparate to the person who uttered the taboo name, but died when they collided with Hogwart's wards) had planned, do you think Severus would have stayed loyal?"

Dumbledore's silence was all the answer she needed.

"You disgust me." Lily said coldly. "You're lucky I don't set fire to your portrait." Instead she put her bare foot on his face and twisted it hard, smearing the paint.

"Really now!" Dumbledore protested, his long nose now a smeared mess. "There is no need for such childish antics!"

Lily fixed him with a gaze cold enough to have made even Voldemort flinch away. "It's not too late to burn you to an ash you know."

She crouched down and buried the tip of her wand into the canvas.

"Now…" she said slowly. "You are going to tell me everything that you have done."

A/N: Well it has been a long time since the last update, but I certainly hope to pick up the pace soon. I know a few of you have been complaining about the update speed, and I have been trying to figure out if I could work out a post schedule, but every time I try and get settled into a grove, real life decided to poke its head up and say "oh look! Thinks are going good for 3173! Let's go mess it up!" Writing is not the problem, I am well into chapter 12 (loving where this story is going) but it is finding the time to type it up that is the problem. Hopefully I will be able to get a lot of work done over the next two weeks.

As for this chapter… at long last we have found out why Hedwig changed into a human being, as well as who the others in Harry's circle of loves is gonna be… or have we? I can't tell you everything this early on. Plenty of mysteries left to solve and to be told still!

Now, when you lovely people leave you reviews, please tell me how you guys think I did with Fluer's accent. Too much? Too little? Did I forget words that are usually affected by her accent? Let me know, as well as tell me what you generally thought of the chapter.

PS: You guys get a virtual cookie if you can guess early what Tonks really is!

Don't forget to review and vote in the poll if you haven't already!

See you next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Harry wasn't sure initially what woke him up the next morning. The first thing he noticed before even opening his eyes was that Hedwig had rejoined him in the bed and was curled up tightly against him. Letting his eyes flutter open, he was surprised to see a pair of dark blue eyes staring back into his own. Fleur had at some point during the night came into his room and conjured a chair to sit and watch him sleep. Her eyes looked bloodshot.

"Good morning 'arry." She said softly. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah." Harry answered softly, mindful to not wake the still sleeping Hedwig. "But it doesn't look like you did. Did you ever go back to sleep last night?"

"Oui." Fleur answered with a tired smile. "For a few 'ours. Then I woke up." Harry smiled apologetically.

"Was it my magical aura?" he asked softly. Fleur closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. She finally gave in to her desires from last night and let out a long shuddering moan that made Harry glad he was still covered with the sheets.

"Oui." She said slowly in a husky voice. "I was wrong last night. I don't think, I know that you are zee one. Right now I can feel my blood singing from being so close to you, calling to me to seal zee bond." She shivered again, trying to get herself under control again. "'arry, I cannot begin to describe 'ow badly I want to give in, to let your aura sweep around me and to claim me as yours…"

"What do you mean claim you?" Harry asked. Fleur looked at him and decided that he was not asking out of naivety, but to make sure it was what he thought it was. The mental connection was getting stronger.

"Exactly as you are thinking. I would be yours, completely, till the day we die." She didn't add that due to the soul bond, they would then be together for all eternity in the afterlife as well. She wasn't sure when she would tell Harry about the soul bonds, but she knew it had to be soon.

"Hermione is going to kill me…" Harry muttered. "She hates all forms of slavery." The look of dejection on Harry's face forced Fleur to use every ounce of her self control to not crawl onto the bed and kiss the sadness away from his life.

"Not slavery 'arry. For veela, zee ability to find someone who we can trust that much is something that is celebrated, as it is a form of love that cannot be matched by any normal relationship. It is anything but slavery, and I will make sure Hermione sees this."

Harry cheered up slightly, but was still confused by one thing.

"So why come into my room?" Harry asked. "Wouldn't things have been better if you had gone farther away?"

"Hush." Fleur said, a delicate pink, before deciding to relent. "To be far enough away would mean going several miles away… your aura is that powerful. You are lucky normal witches cannot sense auras or you would have had trouble long ago. So, if I must be this close, I would rather be close enough so that zee pleasure outweighs zee torture of denial."

"What she is trying to say is that she came in here to enjoy some free orgasms." Tonks said as she walked into the room carrying a tray with a few cups of coffee on it. Harry and Fleur jumped in surprise. "Now Fleur, tell the nice young man here thank you for the orgasms."

"TONKS!" both Harry and Fleur exclaimed together. However, Fleur's bright red face and lack of a denial was all that was needed to make Tonks grin with victory.

Hedwig, who had been woken up by the twin yells, poked her head up.

"Bacon?" she asked in a feeble voice before letting her head flop back down and pulling the sheets over it.

"I think you needed to bring four cups of coffee Tonks, not three." Harry observed with a chuckle as he wiggled out of the bed. Snagging one of the cups from the tray, he slipped past Tonks into the bathroom. Tonks grinned evilly and quickly whispered something into Fleur's ear, who flushed but also grinned. Hedwig merely dragged herself out of the bed to search the kitchen for leftover bacon.

Harry sighed as he relaxed in the hot water of the tub, the cup of coffee having done its job of waking him up. He stared at his gold hand, his fingers flexing slightly, altering the designs etched into the metal. Many of the "designs" were actually intricate runes, and Harry was surprised that Tonks was knowledgeable in such a field. He grinned. He would be forced to sit for several hours, if not days, while Hermione examined the runes that Tonks had used. He tried to identify a few of them himself, but the only one he could figure out was one that allowed the metal to reform if it should become cut for some reason. Making a fist, he was impressed when he felt the gold fingernails dig into the palm, then open his hand to watch the 4 creases slowly vanish from the gleaming metal. He idly wondered if Wormtail's hand had similar runes on it.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, and the pruning on his right hand, Harry decided he had been in there long enough and heaved himself out of the tub. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he let out the bath water and briefly contemplated trying to do something with his hair. It wasn't until he dried off that he realized something very very important: he hadn't grabbed any clothes before going into the bathroom. Shrugging, he pulled on his boxers and opened the bathroom door. He froze.

Tonks and Fleur were sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for him to come out with grins on their faces (Fleur's head was resembling a tomato even though she was grinning). Hedwig was sitting on the bed too, but she was far more interested in munch on some pieces of cold bacon then to stare at him. It was taking all of Harry's self control not to blush horribly but relaxed when his Gryffindor courage kicked in.

"See something you like girls?" he asked casually as he walked over to his bag to pull out some clean clothes. Tonks's mouth fell open at his boldness, but Hedwig giggled, having known her master long enough to know what he was capable of when cornered. Harry turned his back to the girls, and their twin yells of horror had him forgetting the clothes he was getting and lunging for his wand instead.

"'ARRY!" Fleur yelled, the revulsion clear in her voice. Harry froze, his fingers inches from his wand on the nightstand before they folded back into a fist as he stood up. He knew what she had seen.

"See Fleur?" he said softly. "Not everyone is perfect. Though I thought you would have seen these when you were healing me Tonks."

He felt Fleur walk up behind him, and her shaking fingers traced the hundreds of scars on his back, the result of 16 years under Uncle Vernon's belt. A few seconds later he felt Tonks's fingers join hers.

"All I did was make your hand Harry…" Tonks answered in a weak voice. "Remus insisted on healing all your other wounds while I cared for Hedwig. Now I guess I know why he did that…"

Fleur's breath was hitching in her throat while Tonks's heart ached as they explored his scar ravaged back, shocked that anyone could have survived so much abuse for so long. They gently turned him around to look at his front. While his back was scared from the abuse at the hands of his uncle, the front of his body was littered with scars from his many adventures over the past six years.

He held still as the pair ran their fingers over the thick scars left over from the Triwizard's Hungarian Horntail, the long scar on his left arm from where Wormtail cut him to collect his blood. Dozens of smaller scars that came from his two running battles with Death Eaters were scattered across his chest. Not really noticeable at a casual glance, but there nevertheless. But it was the ugly black scar on his right arm that gave them pause.

"Harry…" Tonks said softly. "What is this one from?" Harry didn't look down at it.

"That's the scar that one gets when you survive getting bitten by a sixty foot long basilisk. I would have died at the age of 12 if it weren't for Fawkes" The two girls just looked at him in disbelief.

"A basilisk?" Fleur asked, the skepticism clear in her voice. "Were would you have found one that old?"

"In Salazar Slytherin's hidden chamber. " Harry replied tiredly, slowly pulling away from their hands to pull on a pair of pants. "Dumbledore in another one of his moments of brilliance decided that no one should know what had been living under Hogwarts since the very beginning." He snorted bitterly. "Then again a sixty foot long basilisk would have been pretty handy in their current situation wouldn't?"

Tonks and Fleur took a step back and looked at each other, their hearts sinking. In a span of 2 minutes, the cheerfully and slightly flirtatious Harry Potter they had known and getting to know was gone. In his place was a boy… no… a man, aged far beyond his years and utterly broken. This was the true Harry Potter. Ignoring them, Harry pulled on a shirt and went to leave the room. Fleur quickly reached out and grabbed hold of his hand.

"'arry, stop." She said gently. "Don't go."

"Why?"

"Because it is bad to be alone, and I am going to take you out shopping as soon as we get our own baths. So stay." She smiled softly at him when he looked back at her. He sighed.

"Alright." He said finally. "But until we leave, can you girls leave me along for now? You too Hedwig. You say it is bad to be alone, well that is exactly what I need right now."

Hedwig looked down while Fleur bit her lip then reluctantly let go of Harry. Harry just nodded his head once and left the room. There was silence for a minute then Tonks's eyes blazed with determination and she grabbed Fleur.

"Come one Miss Delacour." She said. "You and I are going to bathe together to get out of this place sooner. I refuse to see Harry like that a second longer then he needs to be!" Ignoring Fleur's protests and Hedwig's giggles as she got dressed, Tonks dragged Fleur into the bathroom and closed the door.

~ Birds Of A Feather ~

It was a much happier Harry that Fleur lead through La Place Magique for a second time. It had helped that after Tonks and Fleur had emerged from the bathroom that Hedwig had disobeyed Harry's wishes and tracked him down to snog him senseless. It also helped that Fleur had decided to wear an outfit similar to Hedwig's, seemingly not caring if her scars were showing. Harry's view on her injuries seemed to have boosted her confidence. Tonks had insisted on wearing the same full body robes that she had been wearing from the beginning, merely using a quick scourgify spell to keep it clean.

Fleur had been dismayed that most of Harry's clothes had been all hand me downs and insisted that he wear his Hogwarts clothes while they went shopping for an entire new wardrobe for him. Of course it didn't hurt that the girls did some shopping as well. Harry was sure Tonks was grateful for the feather light charm on the many shrunken bags that were going into Tonks's backpack that already held all the trunks from Gringotts. Right now she was trying to buy an assortment of clothes for Hedwig. However…

"NO!" Hedwig bellowed at yet another selection that Fleur showed her. "I don't want a dress! I like Tonks's style just fine thank you."

"But 'edwig dear…" Fleur said exasperatedly. "I know you like that look, but you are taking it too far! You are… you are looking like you are…well… Harry's slave!" Hedwig smirked and walked up to get into Fleur's face.

"That's right Fleur." Hedwig said. "That is exactly what I am and I love it. And if half of what you said last night was true, you should be embracing that role as well. Or are you afraid master doesn't have enough room in his heart for all of us?"

"No… but…"

"No but Fleur!" Hedwig exclaimed. "You either love him as much as I do or you don't at all." She grabbed Fleur's hand and dragged her out of the store and into a neighboring one she had spotted earlier. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for. Fleur blushed a bright red.

"You either love him as much as I do or you don't at all." Hedwig repeated. Fleur just bite her lip. The blush only got deeper the more Hedwig talked.

Tonks, meanwhile, was trying to do the opposite with Harry.

"Come on Harry." She said. "Haven't you ever wanted to be rebellious?" Harry glared at her as he went through a selection of jumpers that would actually fit him for a change, already planning on burning all of his old clothes in Fleur's tub when they got back.

"Like what?" he countered. "Do you want me to pin you to the shop wall and snog you? I've gotten pretty good at it by now." Tonks just smirked.

"Harry, you couldn't handle me in your wildest dreams."

"Is that a challenge I hear?"

"Maybe it is. What are you going to do about it?" Harry's response would long go down in Tonks's mind as one of the most shocking things that ever happened to her. Grabbing her by the waist, the clothes she was holding fell to the ground as Harry pushed her against the wall and promptly kissed her. Tonks was so shocked that she couldn't even react for a few seconds.

"Oh what the hell." She thought when her mind reengaged and tried to spin them around, only to find herself being bent over backwards as the kiss deepened. When the need for air finally forced them apart, Tonks once again had a stunned look on her face and Harry was smirking in victory.

"Didn't you Hufflepuffs ever learn not to challenge a Gryffindor? We always will accept it." Turning his back on her, he went back to selecting clothes that he liked. He never heard Tonks's reply as she went off to get a selection of formal robes for Harry.

"Oh Remus… looks like you got some competition after all…"

An hour later, Harry and Tonks left the shops behind and went to the center of the plaza to wait for Fleur and Tonks. Harry was relieved that while every now and then someone's eyes would flick to his scar, it was clear the French did not hold him to such high regard as the British did. To them, his only claim to fame was that he had survived the AK, nothing more. Voldemort had been a strictly "British affair." Hence, Harry was able to stand in the middle of the plaza and hold a normal conversation with Tonks without being interrupted every five minutes. Their conversation only stopped when a pile of bags was dropped next to Tonks. Harry glanced up and his mouth fell open.

Fleur and Hedwig were standing there side by side waiting for Harry to inspect them. It wasn't their clothes that had shocked Harry, all of their purchases had gone straight into the bags (Harry has immediately changed into one of his new outfits). What had shocked Harry was the fact that both girls were wearing a brown leather collar… a collar with a lightning bolt emblem hanging from it.

"Well master…" Hedwig said softly.

"What do you think?" Fleur answered, a bright blush on her face, but was smiling happily anyways.

"No no no…" Harry groaned, even though a certain part of his body threatened to betray him. "Hermione will kill me if she sees that." Hedwig smirked.

"You just leave her to me Master." She said calmly. "Please. We both want this. Just accept it."

Harry's mouth opened and closed a couple of times before he looked at Fleur for confirmation. She nodded her head.

"It is true Master." She said, a small shiver of pleasure running down her spine. "'edwig opened my eyes to a great many things while we were… ummm… selecting our collars. No matter what my matriarch says… I already… and will always… belong to you. It is too late for me…" She smiled and looked up into Harry's eyes. "So yes… I want this Master… very much so."

Harry looked back and forth between the two girls a couple of times, his mind and heart at war with each other. His heart won.

"Bugger it all." He thought. "I deserve to be happy for a change." He opened his arms and the two girls squealed, leaping into his arms. As soon as he accepted them, a charm on the collars activated, binding them to the two girls, preventing their removal.

"Aww." Tonks cooed as she finished putting the new bags into her backpack and pulled it on. "Looks like you are starting a pretty nice harem there Harry."

"Oh sod off." Harry grumbled, his arms still around Hedwig and Fleur.

"No." Tonks protested. "I think it's a good thing. After all that's happened in your life, you deserve a stretch of positive eve…"

Tonks was silenced when a sickly yellow curse suddenly shot through the crowd and hit Tonks square in the chest. She collapsed with a shocked groan as the crowded plaza erupted into screams.

~ Birds Of A Feather ~

A large explosion shattered the normally peaceful calm that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Defenders of the castle rushed to a crudely made earthen wall that had been thrown up between Hogwarts and the Death Eater controlled village of Hogsmead expecting to repel an assault. Instead, they stood there in confusion as there was no unusual activity in the village. One of them, a young pureblood Auror who had refused to follow the mandates of the Voldemort controlled Ministry and fought his way out with 12 muggleborn witches and wizards from the jail cells, looked back at Hogwarts and frowned. There was smoke billowing from one of the many castle towers and he pointed it out to the other defenders with him.

"You know…" he said softly. "If I didn't know better, I would say that that was the tower containing the Headmaster's office…"

"Naw." Another defender told him. "That office is sealed up tighter then a Gringotts vault. Must be the tower that those Weasley Twins took over. They are always blowing something up."

Relieved that it was just a false alarm, the defenders started to go back to the castle when the alarm wards that surrounded the Headmaster's Office started blaring.

"Bloody hell!" the second defender shouted. "You were right! Let's go!"

By the time they got to the office, there was no one around. The gargoyle guardian had been blasted into a fine powder, while the door that had resisted all efforts to open it had been reduced to a burnt pile of splinters. The room itself was completely destroyed. The portraits on the walls were unscathed, but every piece of furniture, book, and trinket was smashed beyond repair. A closer inspection of the room revealed that a single portrait was off of the wall, and the canvas was burned to an ash. There was no one else around.

A few floors down, a young teen was lounging on the steps of a seldom used staircase reading one of the many muggle comic books that he had gotten since his stay at this castle began. He smirked as he read. One of the many benefits he had discovered was that he was able to get certain things far earlier then anyone else. He was about to turn the page when the sound of bare feet walking on the stone floor reached his ears. Turning his head to see who was coming, his mouth dropped open. He was just old enough to start appreciating the female form, and he knew right away, this red-haired goddess would stay with him in his mind till the day he died.

Lily Potter stopped on the step next to the boy and looked down at him with a smile. She was still naked, no doubt the reason for the boy's gobsmacked expression. She held her wand in one hand, while the sword of Gryffindor was resting against her left shoulder. She couldn't help but tease him a little.

"Hmmm." She said softly. "You seeing something you like?" The boy grinned.

"Yes ma'am." He said in a confident voice.

"Good boy." Lily said with a teasing smile. She then frowned as she noticed the comic book that the boy was holding. Tucking her wand under her arm, she pointed at it.

"Can I see that?" The boy was only too happy to comply.

As she looked at the images in the book, the frown rapidly turned into a devious grin. Giving the comic book back, she took her wand and started waving it back and forth, muttering softly. A minute later, she stopped and did a twirl for the boy.

"What do you think?" she asked innocently. The boy clapped in appreciation. Lily had conjured for herself a tight black leather sleeveless catsuit with a cream colored cowl around her neck. Slung low on her right hip was a brown leather wand holster while a sword sheath hung on her left. A pair of black leather knee high boots completed the look.

"You look just like her!" he exclaimed happily.

"Thank you." Lily said with a pleased smile on her face. She holstered her wand and put the sword in the sheath before crouching down to look at the boy.

"I am glad I met you." Lily said honestly. "What is your name?"

"William." Answered the beaming boy. "But you can call me Will."

"Thank you Will." Lily said, and then softly kissed him on the cheek. "Be careful and it was nice meeting you." Lily straitened up and walked away. Seconds later, the boy's mother found him.

"William! There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you!" the blond witch scolded her son. "Who were you talking to?" William never took his eyes off of the corner the beautiful redhead had vanished around.

"One of God's warrior angels mum." William answered with firm conviction in his voice. "One of God's warrior angels."

His mother blinked and turned her gaze to the corner as well, wondering who this mystery person was.

While the mother and son duo upstairs were merely confused (or utterly in love in the case of William), chaos was breaking out on the ground floor. Lily had put up her cowl, hiding her red hair and her face was invisible in the shadow that it cast, but there was no hiding the pure sexiness that her figure oozed. Some men and women froze in place with awe, while others walked into walls or doors. Others recognized the sword she carried as being Gryffindor's, and couldn't figure out how she came by it. But the one thing that had everyone running to find the castle's "officers" was the fact that no one had ever seen her before.

The few that were brave (or stupid) enough to confront her merely blinked a few times then slumped to the floor fast asleep. Each time no one had seen the mystery woman even move. When it became clear where she was headed, a dozen men and women tried to block her path, but they too fell to the floor asleep. No one noticed that each time the rather plain looking ring on her hand glowed briefly. Stopping in front of the doors of her destination, Lily pulled her wand and made a lazy flick with it.

With a twin crash, the doors to the Great Hall slammed open, a shower of dust drifting down from the ceiling. Walking in, Lily ignored the dozens of wands that were aimed at her and looked around in vain for the one face she was hoping to see. There were a great many faces that she recognized immediately, and two of those stepped forward to confront her.

"You will tell us who you are." Drawled out Snape, his wand aimed at her heart. "And how you got in, or we will be forced to take action." Lily ignored him as she continued to look around.

"Where is Potter?" she called out, her growing anger throwing her voice off, though she did try to disguise it a little bit regardless.

"Who are you?" demanded Remus. "And why do you have Gordic Gryffindor's sword?" Lily ignored him as well.

"Where is Harry Potter?" she called out again. Snape raised his wand slightly.

"You will tell us who you are now!" he shouted at her. Lily's wand arm blurred and suddenly the two men found themselves wandless and her wand pointed at Snape's head.

"YOU WILL TELL ME WHERE MY SON IS!" Lily bellowed at them, tearing back the cowl to free her long red hair and reveal her blazing emerald green eyes. More then a few wands clattered to the ground from shock.

"L-Lily?" asked a disbelieving Remus.

"That's Mrs. Potter or Miss Evans to you!" Lily snarled at him. "I haven't decided which yet." Snape opened his mouth to say something, but Lily closed the distance between them and backhanded him hard.

"You don't have the right to talk to me at all!" Lily hissed at him angrily.

"But…" he said weakly.

"BUT NOTHING!" Lily screamed. "I DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!" There was a few gasps and a silence fell on the hall. Lily took the time to take a quickly glance around the gauge the reaction of her reveal. Some, like Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, were staring at her in open mouthed disbelief. Others who had known her had the spark of hope their eyes. The majority of the others were split between skeptical disbelief or outright distrust. One of them, a young bushy haired brunette woman, stepped forward timidly.

"But how do we know you really are Lily Potter?" she asked. Lily smiled at her.

"You must be Hermione." She said kindly. "You exactly match Harry's description of you." Hermione blushed.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"After Sirius died, Harry took to talking to pictures of My, James, and Sirius." Lily answered. "He was so lonely that summer, and I think doing that helped keep his mind together. He would talk about all his friends and all of the adventures he had been through since his first year. He will be pleased to learn that we heard all of it."

"But how do we know you are really Lily Potter?" Hermione persisted. Lily smiled and held her wand up in the air.

"I swear on my magic that I truly am Lily Evans, mother of Harry James Potter. So mote it be." There was a flash as the magic accepted the oath and then everyone in the Great Hall watched as Lily quickly cast the patronum charm and her eagle patronus soared around the hall three times before dissolving.

"Why didn't you use Lily Evans Potter?" Hermione asked curiously as everyone put away their wands. Lily blushed.

"I didn't know if the magic would accept me as a Potter now that… now that James is dead." Lily answered. "The oaths say "till death do you part," and I didn't want to take the chance. I knew that Evans would work no matter what."

"But how…" asked a pale looking Remus.

"Am I alive?" Lily finished for him. "One of Dumbledore's many nasty secrets. I won't go into details now because I have something more important to do first, but I will tell you the biggest part of the reason for me being back in the world of the living." She held up her hand to show off the ring. "The Stone of Resurrection. One of the three Deathly Hollows!" From one of the tables, a blond young woman squealed with delight.

"Now…" Lily said slowly. "Where is my son?" There was a lot of fidgeting. Remus stepped forward.

"We… uh… don't know." He admitted. "We lost him early yesterday morning."

"You lost him?" Lily repeated.

"Sorry Li… Mrs. Potter." Said Remus. "Me and Tonks were escorting Harry and Hedwig…"

"Wait…" Lily interrupted. "Tonks? You're with Andromeda now?" Remus fidgeted again.

"Umm…" he said slowly. "No. Her daughter Nymphadora." Lily's mouth fell open.

"Remus Lupin!" she exclaimed. "That girl is young enough to be your daughter!"

"I know…" Remus admitted. "But Tonks can… er… be very persuasive."

"I can imagine." Lily said with a disgusted shake of her head. "Continue."

"Anyways, we were at Gringotts when You-Know-Who showed up and attacked with his followers. I was cut off and forced to leave. They were still inside when You-Know-Who broke through Gringotts' defenses. Bad news is that they killed everyone inside. The good news is that if Harry was among them, You-Know-Who would be spreading that news as far and as fast as he can. That means at least he got out somehow, but we haven't had contact with him since." Lily's eyes blazed with fury.

"I'll find him myself!" She snapped at him. "He needs me more right now then you lot do." Closing her eyes, she didn't move for a few minutes. A few people who were watching closely would later swear that her ring started glowing while she did this. Finally she gave a smile of success.

"He's in France." She announced. "But he is on the move. I need to get going." She turned and left the Great Hall, but was stopped in the Entrance Hall by a shout from Remus.

"Wait!" he called out. Lily stopped and looked back at him. "Look, I know you want to get to Harry's side as soon as you can, but you are going to have to leave the sword here. We need it."

Lily scowled at him and unsheathed the sword. Walking over to the seal of Hogwarts in the center of the Entrance Hall, she examined it for a few second. Grunting slightly, she plunged the sword deep into a crack in the center of the seal and twisted the hilt. Instantly, the castle started shaking.

"Your walls." Lily said bluntly, pulling the sword free and returning it to its sheath. "Now you don't need the sword anymore." She headed back towards the front doors, but paused next to Remus.

"Not everything has to involve Harry." She told him softly. She then stepped outside and vanished with a crack. Remus stepped out and heaved a sigh of relief as he saw the massive walls that were built so long ago rising out of the ground. Hermione followed him.

"But you can't apparate out of Hogwarts!"

A/N: SURPRISE! A new chapter already! I have been able to secure a couple of hours each day to write, which has allowed me to do this. Magic willing, I will be able to post Chapter Nine either next week or the week after.

Now… I have two virtual cookies here to give out this chapter. First cookie: What character did Lily base her outfit on? Second cookie: what was special about William and his mother?

Also, I have reread the first few chapters and noticed a lot of spelling errors, they will all be corrected as soon as I can. I do not have a Beta, so stuff slips through every now and then.

Be sure to leave a REVIEW and if you haven't done so yet, head over to my profile to vote on my poll!


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